It’s not every day that you see a lifeboat at anchor, but during the winter of 2024 the Edward & Barbara Prigmore, was in front of Hurst Castle as if to mark the RNLI’s 200th anniversary.

Edward & Barbara Prigmore anchored in the Keyhaven River, February 2024 © Tricia Hayne

One of the RNLI’s Tamar class all-weather lifeboats, the Edward & Barbara Prigmore joined the organisation’s relief fleet in August 2008.  With more than 30-plus all-weather lifeboats and more than 40 inshore craft, the fleet plays a key role in maintaining the RNLI’s continuous lifesaving service, standing in for dedicated local boats while they are repaired or refitted. In one year alone, RNLI relief boats were launched more than 600 times from over 80 lifeboat stations around the British coast.

Over the last 16 years, the Edward & Barbara Prigmore – ID number 16-10 – has seen service right across the UK, from the Thames to the Isle of Wight, Sennen Cove in Cornwall to Barrow in Cumbria, Peterhead in Scotland to Swansea and Pwllheli in Wales.  She’s helped out with kitesurfers and paddleboarders in difficulty, been involved with a dog rescue, been on standby for a vessel suffering from engine failure, and ferried representatives of the Orkney community out across the Pentland Firth to commemorate the Longhope lifeboat tragedy of1969, when eight RNLI crew members lost their lives.

Even the journey to and from these stations can be challenging. On one occasion this involved a five-day, 600-nautical-mile transfer from south Wales to Peterhead, travelling via Bangor, Oban and the Caledonian Canal to Inverness. With space for up to 120 people on board, at least the crew could spread out – weather permitting!

Lifeboat number 16-10 is also used in training exercises – which is why she was anchored in the Keyhaven River earlier this year. On that day, the RNLI were training a new Coxswain Afloat Mechanic (CAM) team, essentially a multi-skilled relief crew that is able to travel around the coast providing cover when lifeboat stations are short of crew or need additional support.

For those of us who spend time in, on or around the water, these relief boats – and the relief crew – represent a reassuring safety net.