LOUISE
ex Louise Stephens, ex Tyne Star.
| Type | R.N.L.I. Lifeboat |
| Length | 46 ft |
| Beam | 12 ft 9ins |
| Draft | 3 ft 6ins |
| Displacement | 9.84 tons |
| Engine | 2 x ferry 40 hp Diesel |
| Construction | mahogany |
| Builder | J S White, Cowes IoW |
| Year Built | 1939 |
UPDATE
Louise Stephens has been bought by the Hoylake Lifeboat Museum.
Click
here to see more about the Hoylake Lifeboat Museum
One of only three RNLI lifeboats designed to be launched from the beach, she had just come into service at Great Yarmouth & Gorleston when Louise Stephens found herself off to Dunkirk on 30th May, 1940.
During her career with the RNLI she was launched 311 times and saved 177 lives at sea. Sold out of service in 1974, she became for a while a fishing boat off the North-east coast of England. In 1984 she was re-engined with two 4-cylinder 72hp tractor engines and a large trawler wheelhouse was added.
Howard Fawsitt bought the lifeboat, now called Tyne Star, in 1986 when she had come down to Poole to be sold and he keeps her at Starcross in South Devon. She is a family pleasure boat, cruising the coastal waters of south-west England and the Isle of Wight.
The enjoyment of owning Louise Stephens has prompted its owner to buy Duke of Cornwall, the last Barnet class lifeboat to come out of service.
Source: 1, 5 & 20
I took the Gorleston and
Great Yarmouth lifeboat across to Dunkirk on two nights.
Her performance was a revelation and a delight."
A Royal Naval Reserve officer praises the performance of the Louise Stephens at
Dunkirk
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