Lifeboat 1963 - 2
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Lifeboat 1963 - 2

St Ives Lifeboat and Case tractor on West Pier c1963. Note the old toilet block on the left.
RNLI Lifeboat - St Ives

The original lifeboats were launched from Porthmeor.
A lifeboat house was built in 1860, near The Island.
When a new lifeboat was found to be too large for that building, and the negotiation of streets more than difficult,
a new lifeboat house was built in 1867. The building was erected on the site of The old Custom House.
The lifeboat was launched straight over the Fore sand,
as at that time what was to become Wharf road was little more than a sloping embankment,
with a narrow pathway.
The Fore sand rose to the doorway of the house.
Then in 1888-1890 the harbour was changed; the extension to Smeaton's Pier, the sluice bridges under that pier to clear sands,
all of which allowed the Fore sand to be swept away; a slipway had to be built lengthways to the sea-front,
it was constructed in 1890.
In 1894 a decision was made to build the West Pier to facilitate the shipping of aggregate and stone.
The whole of the boathouse floor had to be raised and altered dramatically, with a new raised loft.
It was in 1922 that major works began again and Wharf Road was built, rendering the new slip unuseable.
The older fish landing slip was widened, and the lifeboat then had to be taken along the new Wharf Road.
It was not until 1940 that any machinery was involved, when the lifeboat began to be towed by a tractor.
In the 1950s a submersible tractor began to be used, the Fowler.
A new house has been built, the old house becoming a cafe; the original house is a store.


Raymond Forward

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