St Davids Lifeboat Station
| St Davids Lifeboat Station | |
| RNLI Lifeboat station | |
 Three boathouses shown in 2016 (newest on right)
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| Country | Wales, UK |
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| County | Pembrokeshire |
| Town | St Davids |
| Location | St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales |
| - coordinates | 51°52′45″N 5°18′32″W / 51.87905°N 5.30897°WCoordinates: 51°52′45″N 5°18′32″W / 51.87905°N 5.30897°W |
| Owner | Royal National Lifeboat Institution |
 St Davids, Pembrokeshire
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St Davids Lifeboat Station (based in St Justinian, St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales) is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station. It was opened in 1869 and to date has been involved in saving over 360 lives at sea in more than 420 launches. The station operates both an all-weather and an inshore lifeboat.
The station was established by the RNLI in 1869 following appeals from local residents after a number of shipwrecks nearby. The Institution had already awarded a silver medal to local man Thomas M Rees for risking his life in an incident in 1867. The station, consisting of a boathouse and slipway at Porthstinan (St Justinians), was provided with the 32-foot Augusta, donated by the Earl of Dartmouth. Augusta remained in service until 1885, saving 23 lives.
From 1885 to 1910 16 lives were saved by the crew of the station's new lifeboat, Gem. The lifeboat was wrecked on The Bitches reef during a rescue on 13 October 1910, and three crewmen drowned: Coxswain John Stephens, and lifeboatmen Henry Rowlands and James Price. Papers concerning the loss are held at Pembrokeshire Record Office (Ref:DX/93/11). A temporary lifeboat, Charlotte, was stationed at Porthclais for two years; meanwhile, a new station and slipway were constructed to accommodate the station's first motor-powered lifeboat, General Farrell.
General Farrell remained on station until 1936, her crew saving 17 lives in the intervening years. She was replaced by Swn-y-Mor which saw one of the busiest periods in the station's history, her crews saving 108 lives in her 26 years of service which was marked in 1956 by the loss of lifeboatman Ieuan Bateman. A couple of years earlier the tanker World Concord broke in two in hurricane-force winds; a combined effort by St Davids and Rosslare Harbour lifeboats rescued 42 people from the tanker.
Swn-y-Mor had been donated by the Civil Service Lifeboat Fund, and the same institution donated the next lifeboat, Joseph Soar, in 1963. Already fitted with some innovative equipment, she was converted for self-righting in 1974, and during her tenure the crew saved 45 lives. As of 2015, Swn-y-Mor was still operating as a private yacht, rigged as gaff ketch motor sailer.
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Wikipedia