Falmouth's maritime community bid farewell to lifeboat
The town's Severn class lifeboat, Richard Cox Scott, has been in operation for 23 years
Falmouth’s maritime community are bidding their farewell to the town's Severn class lifeboat, Richard Cox Scott, which has been in operation for 23 years.
The lifeboat, which has reached the end of its operational life, came off service on Friday 24 January. In what is expected to be an emotional farewell, today (Friday 31 January) the lifeboat will be escorted by a flotilla of both working and recreational vessels out of the harbour, and pass a number of viewing locations to allow the community to say their goodbyes.
Falmouth’s new relief Shannon class lifeboat, 13-44 George and Frances Phelon will go on service on Saturday 25 January and remain at the station until Falmouth RNLI is allocated the station’s own Shannon class lifeboat later in 2025.
The station’s Shannon and Atlantic lifeboats and lifeboats from flank stations, will join Falmouth’s pilot and harbour boats to escort Richard Cox Scott out of the harbour. Recreational water users are encouraged to join at any point along the route, weather and conditions permitting, while those based on the land will have opportunities to wave the lifeboat off from the following locations -
Coxswain Jonathan Blakeston will be joined by a volunteer crew to take the lifeboat out of the harbour for the very last time.
He said: "It's been a busy few weeks and months with our volunteers very much focussed on the training and familarisation on the new Shannon. They have all worked incredibly hard and dedicated time and energy to ensuring we are ready as a station to transition to the Shannon.
"Drawing breath on this busy time, it’s been really heartening to see how many people have wanted to come down and take a look, one last time around Richard Cox Scott, she is a fantastic lifeboat that has served our station well and we will be sorry to say goodbye.
"We’re expecting it to be an emotional day on Friday, and we’d love to see as many of the local community as can make it to see her off in style."
Approximate timings of the day:
11.00am – Richard Cox Scott will leave her berth in Pendennis Marina
11:20am - Prince of Wales Pier.
11:30am – Flushing Sailing Club, Falmouth Boat Co.
The lifeboat will turn and proceed down through the harbour channel.
12:00pm – St Mawes Harbour
12:30pm – Muster off Pendennis Point with lifeboats from The Lizard and Penlee
13:00pm – Richard Cox Scott will steam away with an escort until St Anthony’s Head.
The lifeboat will stop in at Salcombe for the night before continuing to the RNLI Lifeboat College in Poole the next day.
In her 23 years of service at Falmouth, RNLB Richard Cox Scott has launched on service over 500 times and the station’s volunteer crew have saved 12 lives in her care. As part of the farewell, the station’s visits team offered special tours of the lifeboat and welcomed over 360 people over the course of six days in January.