It all changed when the boat was spotted on Ebay and donated to Whitby’s RNLI museum, where it represents a special era in the community’s history, having been based there between 1909 and 1931.One famous rescue took place in 1914 when a hospital ship,
Rohilla
, ran aground in a storm and the only way to get to survivors was to lower all 2.5 tons of the lifeboat down a 200′ cliff to reach the stricken vessel. The crew showed enormous bravery and worked for days in treacherous condition, eventually managing to rescue 120 of the 200 people on board.
The restoration of the wooden lifeboat The William Riley of Birmingham and Leamington has been carried out by members of the RNLI museum (with the support of Blakes Paints, who have provided both coatings and expert advice) through a specially formed trust. Peter Thompson, curator of the museum at Whitby explained that the boat was badly deteriorated and ‘nearly a wreck’ when it was donated to them, taking a lot of volunteer man hours to bring it back to life.
When complete, the lifeboat will be showing off a smart, traditional paint style of dark blue topsides with white below and red gunwhale band, all topped by white ‘whalebacks’, airtight compartments fore and aft that make the boat self-righting.
The project has taken over two and a half years, but the restored vessel is ready to put on the water again the museum plans to use it for both fundraising and educational activities.
