Valentia's Station history

Silver Medals awarded to Coastguard boatman, William Rowe, Joseph Ronowden, William Mark, Richard Jeffers and Nicholas Hanning for rescuing 18 persons from the rigging of the brig Veronica that was driven ashore in mountainous seas and wrecked in Dingle Bay on 7/8 December.

Silver Medal awarded to Coastguard Hugh Cooper, in recognition of his gallant and prompt exertions in putting out in a boat and rescuing two men from the barque Florence Graham which was wrecked during strong gale force winds at Dingle Bay on 24 January.

Lifeboat house constructed at a cost of £168.

Lifeboat house moved to Valentia at a cost of £70.  The only crew available lived on the island.

A new lifeboat was sent to the station in 1890, Crosby Leonard (ON174). It arrived by train at Killorglin, which at the time was the nearest railway station. Valentia lifeboat crew sailed and rowed the lifeboat the 40 miles to station and the carriage was to be taken by road. During the unloading of the carriage from the railway wagon, A Mr Thomas Linahan was killed. He is believed to have been a railway employee or contractor. 

An auxiliary rescue boat was placed at Valentia during the war to help aircraft personnel forced down by bad weather, engine failure or injury, as they flew in from the Atlantic.

The Institution opened a new permanent lifeboat station.

B.A.S.P (ON687) began service.

A.E.D (ON717) came into service at a cost of £10,119.

Rowland Watts (ON938) begins service at a cost of £38,500.

Bronze Medal warded to Motor Mechanic John Joseph Houlihan for rescuing, in the lifeboat’s boarding boat, two men from a canoe that capsized in a northerly near gale on 2 September. He found the two men in the water, dragged one who was near to collapse into the boarding boat and told the other to hold on to the transom. He then, with great difficulty, returned to the beach. The Maud Smith award for Gallantry was presented for this service.

Silver Medal awarded to Coxswain Dermot Walsh, and The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum awarded to Bowman P Murphy and crew members J Curtin, J Curran and N Murphy when the lifeboat rescued 10 men from the motor vessel Oranmore of Limerick that had drifted towards the Kerry Head Shoal with her engine broken down, in a west-north-westerly gale with very rough seas, on the night of 20/21 February.

The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum was accorded to Motor Mechanic John Joseph Houihan in recognition of the promptness, sound judgement and seamanship displayed by him when he proceeded in a fishing boat to Culloo Head and rescued an angler who had been washed off rocks in a strong westerly wind and a very rough sea on 26 August 1982.

Framed letters of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution, the Duke of Atholl, awarded to the coxswain and crew in recognition of the thoroughly professional manner in which they carried out their duties on 23 June in the lifeboat Margaret Frances Love (ON 1082) when they recovered five bodies when an Air India Boeing 747 crashed approximately 115 miles south west of Valentia.

A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution, the Duke of Atholl, was awarded to Coxswain Seanie Murphy in recognition of his seamanship and leadership during the 12 hour service to the trawler Big Cat which had broken down and was aground on Beginish Island on 13 January. The lifeboat Margaret Frances Love was officially off service at the time with a defective engine. However, such was the urgency of the situation that the coxswain proceeded on the remaining serviceable engine in a strong southerly gale and rough seas to the assistance of the casualty. A rescue from seaward was too dangerous and the services of the local Cliff Life Saving Service and a helicopter, together with volunteers, were called upon to help in the rescue of the Big Cat’s crew.

New boathouse constructed on the existing site of the old boathouse which provided very little in the way of crew facilities. The new boathouse includes housing for boarding boat and improved crew facilities.

The new Severn class lifeboat ON1218 John and Margaret Doig was placed on service on 29 November. This lifeboat was funded by the DOIG legacy.

A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution was awarded to Coxswain Seanie Murphy in recognition of his skill and seamanship during a service on 30 July. Four people had been swept into the sea from rocks at Culloo Point. The westerly winds were causing a heavy swell. Two people were seen to be swimming outside the surf line, 10 metres from the cliff face. They were thrown a line, gently towed into calmer water, recovered and treated for cuts and bruises. The search continued and an unconscious man was found floating. He was recovered and resuscitation attempted, but to no avail. A paramedic winched down from a rescue helicopter pronounced life extinct. Having landed these three, the lifeboat searched, unsuccessfully for the fourth man until the light failed.