In October last year RNLI Wells-Next-The-Sea took delivery of their new lifeboat, a state-of-the-art, £2.5M Shannon-class All-Weather lifeboat. We were lucky enough to go afloat in the (soon to be departing) current Wells Lifeboat, the Mersey-class ‘Doris M Mann of Ampthill’ to document the arrival of the new boat. It helps that myself & Leanne are both lifeboat crewmembers at Sheringham RNLI, not just anyone can hop on a lifeboat these days & snap away!

All RNLI boats have a name & number, the new Shannon is number ON13-46 - the 13 represents the length of the boat in metres and the 46 indicates this is the forty sixth Shannon built at the All-Weather Lifeboat Centre (ALC) at the RNLI HQ in Poole.
The boat is named ‘The Duke of Edinburgh’ in honour of the late HRH Prince Phillip who was a huge supporter of the RNLI.

The new Shannon arrived at the Wells fairway buoy at precisely 13:46 before waiting for the tide to fill the harbour enough to allow safe entry.

Old meets new: the Mersey meets the Shannon. At 32 years old the Wells Mersey is the oldest serving boat in the RNLI fleet. Once retired from the RNLI she will be heading abroad to continue work for another rescue organisation, just shows how well-maintained & cared for the RNLI boats are.

The Shannon is powered by two huge water jets & capable of 25 knots.

The Duke of Edinburgh heads into her new harbour for the first time

With the new boat safely into harbour preparations began for a celebratory flotilla up to Wells Quay where huge crowds were waiting to welcome their new lifeboat.

Crowds welcomed their new lifeboat with an escort of historic lifeboats and fishing boats.

An historic moment and a real honour to document on behalf of the RNLI.

I made a short film of the day’s activities.

The next day I returned to photograph the brand new lifeboat station and get a close-up look at their incredible new lifeboat. On the cabin roof and both port & starboard hulls are the names of over 15,000 people, included in the boat registration numbers as part of the ‘Launch a Memory’ scheme - a genius idea which allows people to donate to have loved-ones’ names included on the boat and significantly offset the cost of building these amazing rescue vessels.

Within the 15,000 names on the Shannon is ‘Edward, 7th Earl of Leicester’, former patron and president of Wells RNLI (and custodian of Holkham Hall for many years), see if you can spot his name in the above shot.

Lifeboat 13-46 sits outside the brand new boathouse, she will not take the title of ‘Wells Lifeboat’ until both boat & crew are fully assessed and signed off.

The business end of the SLARS (Shannon Launch and Recovery System) unit, an incredible £1.5M hydraulic mobile launching slipway & turntable

A first look inside the cabin with an impressive array of equipment & screens (top left) which make up the RNLI’s custom-designed SIMS system used on all new lifeboats (Systems And Information Management System) and electronic integrated bridge system. In the other photos: the survivor’s cabin (top right) & deep into the depths of the engine bay (bottom images)

Inside the new station with a reception for crew families. The whole station has alternative red lighting to aid the crew in retaining night vision when preparing for a night time shout.

The Mersey leaves her boathouse for the very last time with the contract to begin demolishing starting the next day.

As sad day for all involved, while the new station is an incredible asset for Wells, the old station holds many fond memories and plenty of history.

The Wells RNLI family with both all-weather boats, the inshore-lifeboat (the D-Class, in the middle) and the three different launching systems.

Wells RNLI crew, shore crew and station officers in front of the Mersey for the last time.

The crew of the Shannon

The Shannon heads back up the new slipway being rinsed down & ready for rehousing.

During the morning the RNLI flag was lowered on the old boathouse for the last time and the new flag hoisted on the new boathouse, in between taking photos I filmed the events and put together this short video -

Later this year The Duke of Edinburgh will be officially named and I’ll be there to document the momentous day. It’s a great honour to be able to provide the official photos & video for the RNLI and all of our friends at one of our flank stations (the other being Cromer, who are also a great bunch of chaps & ladies!). Many thanks to all at Wells for their warm hospitality every time we visit, looking forward to the naming ceremony, it’s going to be a big one!