Devon & Cornwall - Day 4

Our journey around Devon and Cornwall continued on day 4 with two visits, Sennen Cove Lifeboat Station and Penlee Lifeboat Station.

Sennen Cove Lifeboat Station

We arrived at the small village of Sennen Cove at around 9:45am and parked up in the harbour carpark. Sennen Cove is just a mile north of Lands End, the most westerly point of mainland England. We were met at the boathouse by Mechanic Richard and after taking our evidence photo with the bears we were shown up to the crew room where we enjoyed a nice cuppa. We had a long chat with Richard and Coxwain Nick as more crew members arrived. It was fantastic to meet three young crew members, George, George and Will. We learned about their journey with the RNLI and their backgrounds.

Sennen Cove Lifeboat Station is unique in having two slipways. Originally the lifeboat was recovered up one slipway bow first, then turned in the boathouse for launching down the other. Now, with improved slipways, doors and a tipping cradle, the Tamar class lifeboat is launched and recovered on the separate slipways. The original station was established in 1851 following the wreck of “New Commercial” near Cape Cornwall. It has seen many alterations over the years until the current modifications in 2010 to house the Tamar.

The station has two boats. The Tamar Class, 16-14 City of London III has been on station since the modifications in 2010. Their Inshore Lifeboat, Arangy (D-896) has just recently replaced their 2013 ILB, Amy Brown (D-763) which was retired in 2024.

The crew very kindly offered to open the doors and take a photo of us all on the slipway in front of the Tamar. We learned that they would be launching on exercise later in the week and so we planned to head back to watch that, more details in a later blog. Following our farewells we headed into the shop to get a pin badge and then back to the car to head to our next Station.

On the way to Penzance we stopped by Lands End for a quick photo. We were horrified to see how commercialised and tacky this had become. We quickly took a photo of the direction sign and left.

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Penlee Lifeboat Station

Before visiting the station we popped into the shop in the centre of town to get a pin badge. We then headed back to Newlyn Harbour, the location of the new station opened in 2019.

We first visited the excellent visitors centre depicting the history of the station and the major rescues. We were met by Coxwain Patrick who welcomed us to the station where we had a chat and a cup of tea. The station has a fascinating, heroic and harrowing history and it was interesting to hear from Patrick some of his stories and recollections of the historical events. The most notable of these was the loss of 8 crew members and their lifeboat Solomon Browne in December 1981.

Patrick kindly escorted us down to the mooring pontoons in the busy fishing harbour. Penlee have two Lifeboats, a Severn Class, Ivan Ellen (17-36) and an Atlantic 85, Mollie and Ivor Dent (B-893) which rests on a Versa Dock. Patrick allowed us on the back of the Severn for a photo before heading back to the station.

Penlee has a long history and he very kindly gave us a signed copy of a fantastic book detailing the events of this busy station. The RNLI took over the original Penzance Station in 1853 which eventually closed in 1917. The Penlee Point Station was established in 1913 just to the north of Mousehole. In 1960 a new Watson Class called Solomon Browne took residence in the Penlee Point Station where she remained until the fateful night of 19th December 1981.

After leaving the new station we headed a short drive along the coast to visit the Solomon Browne memorial garden and to see the Penlee Point Station which has remained as it was on that night in 1981. The crew and volunteers still maintain the station which has now been granted Grade II listed status preserving its future as a memorial to those that lost their lives.

We headed into the lovely harbour village of Mousehole where many of the crew lost on that night lived and worked with their families. The centre point of the village during that harrowing period was the Ship Inn and we visited for lunch and to see the memories around the walls.

The visit really focussed our minds on the bravery of the RNLI crews and whilst technology has moved on making the boats and the clothing safer for the crews, they still risk heir lives each time the pager goes off.