Qualla: Lochinver Lifeboat Station

Lochinver Lifeboat Station: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Craig Wallace, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1992, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution received a bequest that startled even its accountants: £4 million from the estate of Mrs Eugenie Boucher, a native of Penza in central Russia, specifically earmarked for new boathouses. Eight stations got new buildings out of that single legacy, each named 'Penza' after Eugenie's birthplace. Lochinver was one of them. The boathouse with the Russian provincial city's name sits on Harbour Road, on the north-west coast of Scotland, in a fishing village 30 miles north of Ullapool. From here, an all-weather Severn-class lifeboat called Julian and Margaret Leonard launches into some of the most demanding sea conditions in Britain.

Image: Craig Wallace | CC BY-SA 2.0

Lochinver Lifeboat Station: Why Lochinver

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0. The station was established on 18 August 1967, after trials through the previous winter convinced the RNLI that this stretch of Sutherland coast needed permanent cover. The North Minch is exposed, the Atlantic weather brutal, and the nearest other all-weather stations are far apa...

Image: N Chadwick | CC BY-SA 2.0

Lochinver Lifeboat Station: The Unusual Career of Ramsay Dyce

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pa3ems, CC BY-SA 3.0. Between 1978 and 1985 the station operated the 52-foot Barnett-class Ramsay Dyce (ON 944), built by Groves and Guttridge in 1958. When she retired in 1985 the station did something unusual: it brought back her predecessor, George Urie Scott, for another four years of service. Few...

Image: Pa3ems | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lochinver Lifeboat Station: The Crew of 2016

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jschroeder85, CC BY-SA 3.0. On a single rescue in 2016, the entire on-call crew at Lochinver was recognised by the RNLI with a Letter of Thanks from the Chairman - and Coxswain David MacAskill personally received the RNLI Bronze Medal for gallantry. The recipients tell you something about how small communit...

Image: Jschroeder85 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lochinver Lifeboat Station: The Boat at the Pontoon

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Michael Dennis Stagg, CC BY-SA 2.0. The current lifeboat, 17-40 Julian and Margaret Leonard (ON 1271), arrived at Lochinver on 25 November 2003. She is a Severn-class boat: 17 metres long, twin diesel engines, self-righting, capable of about 25 knots. In 2004 a new pontoon berth was built at a cost of £291,798 so s...

Image: Michael Dennis Stagg | CC BY-SA 2.0