Lifeboat Station
History
The Lifeboat in choppy waters
The first lifeboat to serve the area was named The Ariel, which was built around 1835. The introduction of the boat was prompted by a disaster off St Leonards as six Coastguards made a brave attempt to save a small collier Good Intent, which was drifting. The Good Intent sank as they approached and when their own boat capsized all were drowned. A public fund to provide a local lifeboat was started with the Duchess of Kent (Queen Victoria's mother) who was visiting the town, making a substantial donation. The Ariel had neither a lifeboat house or regular crew and appears to have had a rather unsuccessful career spanning 17 years. She was launched only two or three times, no lives were saved and eventually she fell into decay.
It was not until 1858 that an RNLI lifeboat station was established in Hastings when, again, prompted by a disaster which saw the loss of a vessel and its crew, local inhabitants requested a lifeboat. Hastings Borough Council agreed to rent a piece of ground at Rock-a-Nore, where a lifeboat house was constructed and on Easter Monday, 1858, Hastings took delivery of its first RNLI lifeboat, named after Queen Victoria, which served the town until 1863.
In July 1882 a new lifeboat house was opened at the eastern end of Marine Parade, when huge crowds flocked to witness the ceremony. The then lifeboat Charles Arkcoll was paraded around the town on its carriage, drawn by six horses. In these early days the boat was pulled from the boathouse to the sea by horses supplied by local farmers. This attractive lifeboat house was in use until the 1940s but was demolished in 1959 to accommodate the widening of the seafront.
In 1949, the lifeboat house was placed on the beach at The Stade and it's this site, with additions and rebuilding, that's used today. At first the lifeboat was dragged over the beach on 'skids' to the sea, but in 1964 a tractor and carriage were introduced and this method of launching is in operation today.
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