New Hartlepool RNLI lifeboat enters service
The brand new Hartlepool RNLI lifeboat 'John Sharp' has entered service at the Ferry Road lifeboat station following several weeks of training for the volunteer crewmembers.
Hartlepool RNLI chairman Malcolm Cook said 'This a very proud day in the history of the Hartlepool RNLI with the arrival of the new water jet powered Shannon class lifeboat. The volunteer crewmembers have shown amazing dedication whilst training on the new boat over recent months and are always ready to respond to anyone in trouble at sea. Our thanks go to the Sharp family for there contribution to the RNLI'.
The funding of the Shannon class lifeboat is thanks to the generous gift left to the Charities Aid Foundation by John Sharp, who died in 2019. A successful mathematician by training, John lived modestly but was a highly skilled and active investor.
John Sharp’s brother Anthony said 'As a family we are thrilled to have been able to help bring a new state of the art Shannon class lifeboat to Hartlepool and we are very touched that the RNLI have taken the new lifeboat to visit Bamburgh Castle as a tribute to Dr John Sharp'.
Shannon Class Lifeboat - the Latest All Weather Lifeboat (rnli.org)
Briefing on the new Hartlepool Lifeboat “John Sharp” and on Dr John Sharp 1722 - 1792
John Sharp was born in 1722, the eldest of 14 children. He was the grandson of another John Sharp, Archbishop of York.
Graduated from Trinity College Cambridge in 1747. Ordained priest 1749. Appointed Archdeacon of Northumberland in 1752.
In 1758 on the death of his father John was appointed a trustee of Lord Crewe’s Charity. This charity had been established in 1721 on the death of Nataniel Crewe the Bishop of Durham.
The Bishop’s Estate included Bamburgh Castle which was in a poor state of repair but which John Sharp then restored.
His many initiatives at Bamburgh over the following years included the establishment of both a boys school and a girls schools, a free surgery for the poor and a dispensary. He also set up a system for subsidising local corn prices and standardising the method of weighing it.
Under John Sharp’s direction Lord Crewe's Charity built Seahouses harbour at a cost of £25,000 to enable the transport of lime and grain. This opened in 1789.
At Bamburgh Castle, John Sharp created what was probably the first lifeboat and coastguard station, some 40 years before the RNLI was established. He installed a cannon on the castle to be fired in fog and organised beach horseback patrols after a storm. He bought chains, pumps and grapples to help recover shipwrecks. He had cork jackets for survivors and a room in the castle for them to recover.
Most importantly in 1788 he commissioned an Essex coachbuilder, Lionel Lukin, to convert a local fishing boat into an “unimergible” boat (i.e. one which would not sink). This was the first time a boat had been maintained purely for saving lives at sea.
The new Hartlepool Shannon Class lifeboat has been funded from the estate of the late John Sharp who died in 2019 and is named John Sharp to recognise the work of Dr John Sharp at Bamburgh Castle. The Wheelhouse plate reads
THIS SHANNON CLASS LIFEBOAT
WAS FUNDED BY THE VERY GENEROUS LEGACY OF
JOHN SHARP
IN RECOGNITION OF DR JOHN SHARP (1722 – 1792)
RNLI Media Contacts
Hartlepool RNLI volunteer press officer Tom Collins email: [email protected]
Clare Hopps (RNLI Regional Communications Manager, North East and East): [email protected] Tel:07824 518641
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.