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Troon Lifeboat Station

Coordinates: 55°32′53″N 4°40′53″W / 55.5481°N 4.6813°W / 55.5481; -4.6813
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Troon Lifeboat Station
Troon Lifeboat Station is located in South Ayrshire
Troon Lifeboat Station
Troon in South Ayrshire
General information
TypeLifeboat station
LocationTroon
AddressThe Harbour, Troon, South Ayrshire, KA10 6DX
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates55°32′53″N 4°40′53″W / 55.5481°N 4.6813°W / 55.5481; -4.6813
Opened(First station) 1871
(Current building) 1987; 37 years ago (1987)
OwnerRNLI
Website
rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/troon-lifeboat-station

Troon Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboats at Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It opened in 1871 and operates both all-weather and inshore lifeboats.

History

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Lifeboat stations had been established at Irvine and Ayr by 1859. The people of Troon asked the RNLI to provide one for their town, which they agreed to in 1871. £250 was paid to build a boathouse at the harbour on land donated by the Duke of Portland.[1]

A larger boat was stationed at Troon from 1905 so the boathouse was sold to the county council and the lifeboat since that time has been kept afloat in the harbour. The present crew accommodation and workshop was built in 1987 and extended in 1996. An Inshore lifeboat (ILB) was stationed at Troon for the first time in January 2004. A boathouse was built for it and a davit erected to lower it into the water.[2]

Service awards

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Three RNLI Medals have been awarded to members of Troon lifeboat crews. The first were the result of 7 people being rescued from the Belfast steamer Moyallen on 6 December 1940. It was a difficult rescue amid a gale and rain. Coxswain William McAuslane was given a silver medal and Albert J Ferguson received a bronze medal.[3] The other medal was presented to coxswain/mechanic Ian Johnson who took the lifeboat to rescue 5 people from a dredger that was in danger of breaking its moorings outside the harbour in a Force 10 storm on 12 September 1980.[4]

The 'Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum' was presented to Thomas Devenny who led a mission to rescue the crew of a small fishing boat during a storm on 18 October 1984. The same award was given to David Seaward and Paul Aspin who used the all-weather lifeboat's (ALB's) dinghy to rescue 10 people from the TS Mountbatten which ran aground at Ayr on 14 July 1988. Ian Johnson, the ALB's coxswain on the day, received a 'Framed Letter of Thanks' from the chairman. Another 'Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum' was given to Colin Millar and Gary McGarvie after leading the lifeboat in a difficult rescue of a trawler on 14 January 2015.[2]

On 8 December 1979 Roy Trewern used the lifeboat's inflatable dinghy to help two people cut off by a rising tide, for which he received a 'Framed Letter of Thanks' from the chairman. Ian Johnson and the whole crew received a 'Framed Letter of Thanks' for saving a broken down yacht and 4 people near Holy Isle on 23 May 1992.[2]

Troon lifeboats

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'ON' is the Official Number used in RNLI records from 1884.
'Op. No.' is the Operational Number of the boat displayed on the boat.

At Troon ON Op. No. Name Class Built Comments
1871–1886 Mary Sinclair Self-righter 1871 [1]
1886–1899 88 Alexander Munnock Self-Righter 1886 [5][6]
1899–1904 309 Charles Skirrow Standard Self-Righter 1891 Originally built for Ardrossan.[7]
1904–1929 525 Busbie Watson 1904 [8][9]
1929–1955 723 Sir David Richmond of Glasgow Watson 1929 The first motor lifeboat at Troon. Sold and became the fishing boat AB52 Aber Girl at Aberystwyth.[10]
1955–1967 909 James and Barbara Aitken Watson 1954 Saw continued service at Girvan until 1976. It was then sold and went overseas as a pleasure boat.[11]
1968–1985 1006 44-007 Connel Elizabeth Cargill Waveney 1967 Later stationed in Ireland. Sold in 1999 for continued lifeboat service in Australia.[12]
1985–1987 1029 44-011 Augustine Courtauld Waveney 1974 First stationed at Poole and continued in service until 1997. Sold in 1999 for continued lifeboat service in Australia.[13]
1987–2004 1134 52-38 City of Glasgow III Arun 1987 Sold in 2006 for continued lifeboat service in Iceland.[14]
2004– 1275 14-38 Jim Moffat Trent 2003 [15]
Trent-class Jim Moffat

Inshore lifeboats

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At Troon Op. No. Name Class Model Comments
2004–2005 D-468 Colin Martin D EA16 First stationed at Happisburgh in 1994.[16]
2006–2007 D-506 Patrick Rex Moren D EA16 First stationed at Mablethorpe in 1996.[16]
2007–2018 D-684 Telford Shopping Centre D IB1 [17]
2019– D-821 Sheena D IB1 [2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Additional stations and new life-boats". Life-boat. Vol. 8, no. 83. 1872. p. 2.
  2. ^ a b c d "Troon's station history". RNLI. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Forty-eight medals for gallantry". Services by the Life-boats of the Institution and by Shore-boats during 1940. 1941. p. 4.
  4. ^ Leach, Nicholas (1989). The Waveney Lifeboats. Bernard McCall. pp. 49–51. ISBN 1-902953-01-0.
  5. ^ "Additional stations and new life-boats". Life-boat. Vol. 13, no. 145. 1887. pp. 393–394.
  6. ^ Denton, Tony (2010). Handbook 2010. Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society. p. 3.
  7. ^ Denton 2010, p. 7.
  8. ^ "New life-boats". Life-boat. Vol. 19, no. 213. 1904. pp. 251–252.
  9. ^ Denton 2010, pp. 14–15.
  10. ^ Denton 2010, pp. 20–21.
  11. ^ Denton 2010, pp. 28–29.
  12. ^ Denton 2010, pp. 32–33.
  13. ^ Denton 2010, pp. 34–35.
  14. ^ Denton 2010, pp. 38–39.
  15. ^ Denton 2010, p. 42.
  16. ^ a b Denton 2010, p. 61.
  17. ^ Denton 2010, p. 64.
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