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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 and a smaller . ==History== 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 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 . 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〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Royal National Lifeboat Institution )〕 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. The pier itself is also in poor condition. The RNLI has laid boards on top of it to provide a safer access route for their volunteers but in 2014 took the decision to move the smaller inshore lifeboat to a new shore base at Knightstone Harbour. Since December 2013 a portable building has been situated on the promenade adjacent to the Marine Lake and the lifeboat can be launched using the slipway into the harbour. This is not possible, however, at low tide. The larger lifeboat remains in the 'temporary' building on Birnbeck Pier and can be launched when required at any state of the tide but this will only happen "when there is a significant risk to life".〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = BBC )〕 In 2015 the RNLI announced that it would seek planning permission for a permanent lifeboat station at Knightstone Harbour along with deep-water anchorage at Anchor Head.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = BBC )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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