Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station
| Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station | |
| RNLI lifeboat station | |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
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| County | North Somerset |
| Town | Weston-super-Mare |
| Location | Birnbeck Island, BS23 1AL |
| - coordinates | 51°21′28″N 2°59′55″W / 51.3577°N 2.9985°WCoordinates: 51°21′28″N 2°59′55″W / 51.3577°N 2.9985°W |
| Founded | 1882 |
| Owner | Royal National Lifeboat Institution |
| Visitation | Classed as an Observe station |
 Birnbeck Island shown within Somerset
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Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station is a lifeboat station at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England. Split between two sites on Birnbeck Pier and at Knightstone Harbour, it is operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The first lifeboat was stationed in the town in 1882 and since 1969 it has only operated inshore lifeboats (ILBs), currently a B-class (Atlantic 75) and a smaller D-class (IB1).
The Bristol Channel has an extreme tidal range which made it difficult for the RNLI to find a site from which a lifeboat could be easily launched at all states of the tide. In 1882 they installed davits on the pier, from which the town's first lifeboat to be launched like a ship's lifeboat into the water below, even at low tide.
A 100 feet (30 m) slipway was brought into use in 1889, along with a new lifeboat house on the north east side of the island. This coincided with the delivery of a new lifeboat, as did the opening of the next lifeboat house in 1902. This was on the south east side of the island and required the construction of the longest lifeboat slipway in England, measuring 368 feet (112 m).
On 12 March 1969 the Weston-super-Mare lifeboat, the Calouste Gulbenkian, was away for servicing when the temporary lifeboat, the Rachel and Mary Evans, broke away from a mooring off the pier and was wrecked on Birnbeck Island. Since this time Weston-super-Mare has only operated inshore lifeboats (ILBs), although ILBs have been stationed here since 1966.
A heavy storm in 1991 damaged a large part of the slipway. Repairs were undertaken by following summer, but in the meantime the two ILBs were moored afloat in the River Axe at Uphill. In 2007 the poor condition of the slipway again forced its closure. The launch site moved to an old slipway on the north side of the island. The crews continued to use the 1889 boathouse but the lifeboats were kept on their launch trolleys on Birnbeck Island outside the boathouse. In April 2011 a new "temporary" boathouse was erected to give them cover. This cost £70,000 but can be removed once permanent facilities can be provided again and then reused elsewhere.
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