Welcome

St Peter Port Lifeboat - Guernsey

Welcome to the friends of the St Peter Port lifeboat website.

Please visit https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/st-peter-port-lifeboat-station for the official website

This is an unofficial website of the St Peter Port Lifeboat, not linked to the official RNLI website which can be found at https://rnli.org/

The Guernsey lifeboat station is one of only four in the Channel Islands. Operating for over 200 years, the crews of the Guernsey lifeboats have been honoured with several awards for gallantry.

Spirit of Guernsey at speed – photo by Tony Rive

The Station has seen a variety of lifeboats over the years and the current lifeboat is the Severn class ‘Spirit of Guernsey’. The Island has always been proud to support the Lifeboat Station and crews; in 1973 a special appeal raised a considerable sum towards the cost of the Arun Class “Sir William Arnold”.

Twenty years later an appeal was launched to raise £1 million to support the building of “Spirit of Guernsey”. Thanks to the generosity of friends in Guernsey, Sark, Herm and further afield, the target was achieved within one year. The RNLI relies entirely on voluntary donations.

Following a six-month training and familiarisation period, July 2019 saw the introduction of a ‘B’ Class Atlantic 85 Inshore Rescue lifeboat – the Elizabeth and Margaret Milligan (B-889) on a two-year trial for evaluation.

Picture by Brian Green

RNLI All-Weather Lifeboat Assists Disabled RIB West of Guernsey

St Peter Port Lifeboat - Guernsey Posted on by
French 7.5m RIB – photo by Tony Rive

At 3:15pm on Sunday 16th August 2026, Guernsey Coastguard was informed by Cross Jobourg Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), of a 7.5-metre rigid inflatable boat (RIB) that had suffered a mechanical breakdown approximately 42 miles west of Guernsey, with four people on board.

As the vessel was located within French search and rescue waters, Cross Jobourg MRCC retained overall coordination of the incident and requested assistance from Guernsey Coastguard. Following discussions between the two authorities, the RNLI’s All Weather Lifeboat (ALB) Spirit of Guernsey, was tasked at 4:00pm, to rendezvous with the broken down vessel and assess the situation on scene.

The lifeboat arrived on scene at 6:35pm and established communications with the casualty craft. All four occupants were reported to be safe and well, with no injuries or immediate medical concerns. After assessing the vessel and the prevailing conditions, it was determined that the safest course of action was to put the four crew from the RIB onto the lifeboat and to take the RIB under tow.

The tow commenced at 7:10pm and both vessels arrived safely back into St Peter Port at 10:00pm.

The Lifeboat was back on station at 10:40pm

A spokesperson for Guernsey Coastguard said:

“The initial request for assistance was received from the French Coastguard, who coordinated the response throughout as the vessel was located within their waters. While there was no immediate danger to the four people on board, the vessel’s distance from shore and inability to make way under its own power meant assistance was required.

We would like to thank the crew of the Spirit of Guernsey for giving up their Sunday afternoon and evening, to go to the assistance of the French RIB.

We would also like to thank the RNLI’s St Helier lifeboat station for covering our area with their All Weather Lifeboat, whilst our ALB was conducting this long offshore tasking.

“The successful resolution of this incident highlights the strong working relationship between the French, Jersey and Guernsey Search and Rescue communities, whose seamless coordination ensured assistance was provided quickly and efficiently.”

Issued by: Mike Harris – Duty Search Mission Coordinator