Saving lives at sea

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Did you know that the Aberdeen Lifeboat station is one of the oldest in Scotland? It was established in 1802 by the Harbour Commissioners who maintained control of the station until 1925 when it was passed over to the RNLI.[1] After the transfer, the Commissioners continued to pay £500 per year upkeep. The close link with the Harbour Commissioners means that we hold a folder relating to the lifeboats in the Harbour Board collection. This folder is only a couple of centimetres thick but it holds an extremely eclectic collection of papers.

There are papers relating to specific boats used by the lifeboat service since lifeboats were often left as part of legacies; this was the case with the George and Elizabeth Gow and the Hilton Briggs. The George and Elizabeth Gow was gifted by Elizabeth Gow in 1936 to honour her late husband. Like much of the harbour infrastructure, the George and Elizabeth Gow was taken over by the armed forces during the war and was given to the Air Ministry. Gow served as an air-sea rescue vessel in the Azores until it was returned to Aberdeen in 1946.[2] The Hilton Briggs was provided by the estate of Mrs Emily Annie Briggs and the official ‘Naming and Dedication Ceremony’ was performed by the Lady Provost Graham on the 24th September 1952. The Hilton Briggs was sold on in 1958.

The Commissioners also recorded the revenue and expenditure of the lifeboat service for 1869-1899 which allows us to see that they were operating at a loss every year except 1884 and 1885.

However, perhaps the most interesting documents in the file come from B.S.A Guns Limited. This would be understandable had the order come during the First or Second World Wars but they are from 1923 when Britain was not at war on the North Eastern Coast of Scotland. We think it may have been premptive armament in case of another major conflict. After an order of 2 B.S.A. shoulder type throwing guns, the Managing Director of B.S.A wrote to the Harbour Treasurer to point out that no ammunition had been quoted for and could he add 100 cartridges to the order. The Harbour Commissioners agreed to his suggestion.


[2] Nicholas Leacher, The Lifeboat Service in Scotland: Station by Station, 2013


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