Port Erin Lifeboat House
Breakwater Road
Port Erin
Isle of Man
IM9 6JA

Tel. & Fax. 01624 832154

E-mail: Boathouse

Port Erin has had a lifeboat since 1883 and in 1885 the original boathouse was completed. It was situated at the top of the Harbour some 250m East from the position it now occupies.  A slipway was constructed in 1900 just behind the harbour, to assist with the launching of the lifeboat which was still kept in the original boathouse on it's carriage.  The carriage was there to allow the lifeboat to be taken to other launching sites depending on the prevailing weather conditions, there was Fleshwick Bay, 2 miles to the North and even Port St. Mary to the East, should the need arise.

1924 saw the commencement of building works on the new and present boathouse, it was finished in the summer of 1925 in time for the arrival of the first motor lifeboat in Port Erin, the "Ethel Day Cardwell".  In 1996, an extension was built on the West side of the boathouse, this was to accommodate a crew training/meeting room, drying room, office, toilet and souvenir shop.

The lifeboat when housed, sits level in a special carriage on a tipping floor.  When launching, the floor tips to line up with the slipway and the carriage is lowered into the sea, where upon the lifeboat floats level as it enters the water.  The carriage has two freshwater tanks on each side which lets the crew start and warm the engines ready for departure when the lifeboat floats off.

More information is available on the history of Port Erin Lifeboat Station, in a book by Jeff Morris "The History of the Port Erin Lifeboats".