Historic Lifeboat Collection - Chatham

28/05/2026

For anyone that enjoys reading the RNLI’s news, they’ve just released this article about our awards ceremony from Monday! Please feel free to have a read!

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) National Collection of Historic Lifeboats received an IMechE Heritage Award at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard, recognising 200 years of the lifesaving charity’s engineering innovation.

26/05/2026

Thank you Historic Dockyard Chatham for celebrating with us on such an important day! Your support means the world to us all

25/05/2026

Today was a very exciting day for the Historic Lifeboat Collection. First, we were celebrating 30 years to the day since we opened the doors to the public and began our journey of preserving history as well as teaching the next generation about the incredible work done by the RNLI, which leads to the 2 other big events of the day.
Friends, family and other wonderful guests joined us to celebrate us being presented with the IMechE Engineering Heritage award in recognition of 'improving the world through engineering', which is an incredible honour for us. Thank you to The Institution of Mechanical Engineers for this. After this plaque unveiling, we presented one of our own volunteers Dave Cox with his Long Service Award for 60 years of RNLI service, which is such an incredible achievement and we are all very proud of him, as is his wife Margaret, whose support has been so important.
A beautiful day, and thank you to Historic Dockyard Chatham for joining us and for hosting us for so many years, let us hope there will be many more!

16/05/2026

The entrance to the Historic Lifeboat Collection is looking good with our signage! We hope this is able to draw attention & encourage new visitors 😊

02/05/2026

This year we’re celebrating 25 years of RNLI lifeguards!
To commemorate this, we have a display showcasing the important work each Life Guard does. We even have a jet ski that visitors can go on!

28/04/2026

Good morning everyone!
Here at the Historic Lifeboat Collection, we want to say an absolutely huge thank you for 900 followers here on our page!
Your continued support means the absolute world to us ❤️

04/04/2026

A current work in progress, but we have some displays going up! These are behind Spirit of Lowestoft and are visible as you go up the walkway to gain access onboard!
These will be shuffled around over time to find the best view, but we’re so pleased to have them out and visible once again

04/03/2026

Happy birthday to the RNLI!
We aim to continue to educate on the amazing work with saving the lives of those who need it at sea 😊

Happy 202nd Birthday RNLI 🥳

See over 200 years of life-saving history with a visit to the UK’s largest collection of RNLI historic lifeboats here at the Historic Dockyard.

In partnership with the RNLI Heritage Trust, you can explore a 1897 pulling-and-sailing lifeboat, see the familiar Arun class, and view Blue Peter inflatable inshore vessels.

🎫 Included with your Dockyard ticket.

26/02/2026

We would like to say an absolutely huge thank you to Howdens for their generous donation of £250 to the RNLI! We are so grateful!
We would also like to thank Neil Broad & his team for their incredible hospitality, it was an honour to spend time with you all 😊

12/02/2026