Fraserburgh RNLI new lifeboat to arrive in April
Fraserburgh RNLI's new lifeboat, the Tamar class A LB 16-21 John Buchanan Barr will arrive in Fraserburgh on Sunday 19 April 2026.
The Tamar class ALB will replace Fraserburgh RNLI’s current lifeboat the Trent class ALB 14-34 Willie and May Gall which has been a life saving stalwart and familiar feature in the North East of Scotland port since it first arrived in 2002.
The change is one of many announced by the RNLI in 2025 where a number of lifeboats all around the coast are being replaced.
‘We’re very pleased that we have been allocated a Tamar,’ said Fraserburgh RNLI Coxswain Vic Sutherland. ‘It's the ideal type of lifeboat for the kind of shouts which we are called out for. The Tamars have got a very good reputation and we’ve heard a lot of good reports about them, so we are all excited and looking forward to 16-21 John Buchanan Barr coming here’
The 16-21 John Buchanan Barr was previously at Portpatrick until 2024 and until recently has been part of the relief fleet. It underwent a major refit in 2025 and is now at the RNLI Support Centre in Poole where it is being prepared before being handed over to Fraserburgh.
Fraserburgh RNLI volunteers will undergo training at Poole in April and then crew the boat on a four day passage up the East coast before arriving in Fraserburgh on 19 April at 16.21.
'We will leave Poole on the Wednesday,' said Vic 'and we’ll be taking a number of factors, including the weather, into consideration but we’re hoping to arrive at Fraserburgh at 16.21 (which coincides with the number on our new boat!) on Sunday 19 April, all timings subject to change, of course.’
‘We’ll have more details nearer the time, and we’ll try to keep everyone informed.
‘It will also be a sad occasion for us because we will shortly be saying goodbye to the Trent which has been a fantastic lifeboat for us for nearly quarter of a century.’
The Trent class boat Willie and May Gall in recent years became the longest serving lifeboat in Fraserburgh RNLI’s long and proud history beating the 22 year record set last century by Lady Rothes which served the station so well from 1915 to 1937.
The Lady Rothes was named by, and after Lady Rothes, who survived the Titanic, and was gifted by her grateful father as a ‘thank you to the Almighty’ for saving his daughter from drowning in the disaster. The Lady Rothes was only in service a few days when the Fraserburgh RNLI crew saved fifteen men after their boat had been sunk by a German U-Boat.
It served through the First World War but in 1919 it was capsized by a freak wave while on service and the coxswain and acting second coxswain were drowned. The crew however declared their confidence in the boat and it stayed at Fraserburgh until 1937.
On the day of the arrival the Trent will go out and greet the Tamar and escort it into Fraserburgh, with maybe some other boats joining in, it should be quite a sight.
'The arrival of the new boat will signal the next chapter in Fraserburgh Lifeboat's history and we are all looking forward to working with the Tamar,' said Vic.
Notes to editors
Fraserburgh lifeboat station has been operating since 1858. To learn more about the lifeboat station go to: https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/fraserburgh-lifeboat-station
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The RNLI is the charity that 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 146,700 lives.
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