Eastbourne Lifeboat Station

Eastbourne Lifeboat Station is an RNLI lifeboat station in the town of Eastbourne in East Sussex. Founded two years before the RNLI was established, the station has operated continuously since 1822 and its lifeboats have been responsible for saving over 700 lives. There are two active lifeboat stations in Eastbourne, an all-weather station with the Tamar-class lifeboat Diamond Jubilee at Sovereign Harbour and the D-class Lawrence and Percy Hobbs at the inshore lifeboat station a couple of miles to the west at Fisherman's Green. An older lifeboat station, west of Eastbourne Pier, is now used as an RNLI museum.
Samaritan or The Rose, the first Eastbourne lifeboat, was donated to the town in 1822 by the local Member of Parliament, John 'Mad Jack' Fuller. He was a noted philanthropist despite his reputation as a drunkard and his strong support of slavery. He had witnessed how local fishermen had attempted to rescue the crew of the ship Thames, which had run aground in a storm off Eastbourne, and concluded that a purpose-built lifeboat was needed to improve the chance of successful rescues.

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