West Mersea RNLI Lifeboat Station

West Mersea became one of the RNLI’s earliest inshore lifeboat stations in July 1963. The volunteer crew operates in waters crowded with moorings, small craft, shallow banks and rapidly changing tidal conditions.

The lifeboat

The station’s lifeboat is Just George, a B class Atlantic 85 which arrived in 2014. The RNLI’s published launch records show that its work includes assisting vessels in difficulty in the Blackwater and around Brightlingsea. In July 2026 the crew was called first to a drifting powerboat and then to another vessel taking on water near a sandbank.

How the station developed

The original boat was a D class inflatable. An Atlantic 21 took over in 1972, and the Atlantic 75 Dignity entered service in June 2001. The present boathouse and slipway were built in 1991–92 and opened officially by the Duke of Kent on 10 September 1992.

Rescues remembered

On 31 July 1978 an Atlantic 21 rescued four people from the grounded sloop Blackbird at Sales Point in a north-easterly gale. Helmsman Graham M. Knott received an RNLI vellum award. During a storm on 26 May 1979 the lifeboat assisted ten small craft; helmsman James Albert Clarke and crew member Jonathan Paul French were also recognised by the RNLI.

Visiting the station

The RNLI lists public visiting at weekends and bank holidays between Easter and mid-October, generally 11.30am–4pm, and during Mersea Week in August. These are seasonal arrangements and may change when the station is operational. Check the official West Mersea station page before visiting.

For earlier launches, awards and station buildings, see the RNLI station timeline.