Waveney Class Lifeboat

The RNLI introduced the Waveney class lifeboat into its fleet in 1962, Whitby's Waveney class lifeboat White Rose of Yorkshire served as the all weather lifeboat from 1974 to 1988. It was made possible by way of a gift of "Miss Gwynaeth Milburn" of Harrogate. The lifeboat was purchased at a cost of £70,000 and was launched on service 239 times with 51 lives saved, whilst the relief lifeboats were launched 47 times saving 24 lives.

After leaving Whitby and the RNLI the White Rose of Yorkshire finally ended up in Canada returning to its role as a lifeboat for the Roberts Bank Lifeboat Station as part of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary - Pacific (CCGA-P). The CCGA-P includes over 1400 committed volunteers throughout British Columbia to provide search and rescue services. The Roberts Bank Lifeboat Station Society is a volunteer, non profit, charitable marine Search and Rescue organization working with the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific and is aligned with the Coast Guard as part of the Search and Rescue team coordinated by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre. The Roberts Bank Lifeboat Station - Delta Society (RBLB-D) is located in the Straight of Georgia, known for its treacherous offshore shoals, strong currents and dangerous sea.

Robert Banks Replacement

The ex White Rose of Yorkshire or Roberts Bank boat was over 30 years old and no longer has the speed or the latest navigational equipment to provide the lifesaving services required and a new fundraising initiative was launched to have the boat replaced. The replacement boat "MV Ready" was secured from Britain purchased from, MacDonald Ferries, who kindly built and donated a steel cradle to carry the vessel for its journey. The local volunteers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution helped to prepare the 'M.V. Ready' for its departure from Invergordon, Scotland. It was transported down the east coast to the North Sea port of Hull.

Star Shipping of Bergen, Norway, graciously agreed to transport the MV Ready freely aboard their freighter M.V. Star Java. After crossing to Rotterdam the boat headed through the Caribbean towards the Panama Canal, arriving at Fraser Surrey Docks in May then Vlissingen where all of the loading and securing facilities was donated by Verbrugge Zeeland Terminals, the local port authority. After reaching Vancouver the boat's name was changed to MV Roberts Bank, it has been worked on by the station crews and also many local tradesmen donating their time to get the vessel ready from Britain so that it reaches the necessary standards.

A dedicated website related to the The Roberts Bank Lifeboat Station can be found using the previous link, it is a mine of information especially as it continues the history of the "White Rose of Yorkshire". I have a selection of the images from the website and have been given permission to reproduce them here, check back soon.

In a yet another strange twist the current Whitby pilot boat is also an ex Waveney class lifeboat itself, the photograph below shows the pilot boat in front of the stone carrier "TOPI".  The large stone boulders were being used to try and hold back the cliff erosion. As if to date the photograph the Spa ladder was still place, a walkway that connected the east pier to the cliff, which was at times adventurous, unfortunately cliff erosion made this unsafe leading to its closure. The ladder has now been replaced by a permanent but somewhat uneven walkway, which I find extremely steep and therefore rather precarious.

At the top of the photograph the television transmitter can just about be seen, the erosion that forced the closure of the "Spa Ladder" also eventually led to the transmitter being removed and relocated much further inland. This was not the ideal solution and has resulted in a complete lack of signal to probably over two thirds of the townsfolk, today the only way many can get any form of television reception is to have taken out a Sky subscription, even if they can't really afford it, so much for progress.

Seeing the pilot boat move around the harbour is almost like seeing the "White Rose of Yorkshire.

I wondered about the history of the pilot boat during her days as an lifeboat and contacted the RNLI. They were as ever really helpful and soon suplied me with significant information including its service history and I was extremely pleased with just how informative they were.

I have made both of the files available here as either MS Excel format or the more common Adobe.pdf format, just use the links below.

1967 to 1969	1970 Onwards

1967 to 1969	1970 Onwards