NEW LIFEBOAT THANKS TO LEGACY
Oban is set to get a new multi-million pound lifeboat later this year thanks to a generous legacy from a ship captain’s daughter.
Two thirds of the funds have come from the legacy but the rest is being drawn from RNLI reserves until more donors are found to help bridge the gap. The cost of the boat will be more than £2.26 million.
Propelled by water jets, the Shannon class all-weather lifeboat is the most modern in the RNLI fleet and is being built at the saving-lives-at-sea charity’s HQ in Poole, Dorset.
The lifeboat will have a maximum speed of 25 knots and a range of 250 nautical miles, and having the water jets instead of traditional propellers means that crews carrying out rescues will be able to safely work closer to shore than they can now.
Named The Campbell-Watson, it will be the 50th Shannon to go into service, replacing the Trent class Mora Edith MacDonald which has served the maritime, coastal and island communities from Oban since the summer of 1997.
For handover purposes, the town will have both lifeboats moored at the South Pier for a while as crews train on one and respond to call-outs on the other.
Lifeboat operations manager at Oban, Peter
MacKinnon, says the name of the new lifeboat recognises the generosity of Elizabeth Lyall Watson whose legacy after her death in 2021 allowed the charity to build the vessel.
Mrs Watson lived in Belfast and was a long-standing supporter of the RNLI. She was the daughter of a ship’s captain who served with the Gem Line, spending much of his career on routes between Scotland and Ireland, and she was also the widow of a ship’s chief engineer who lost his life when his boat went down off Japan in 1989.
‘It is a huge privilege that we will be able to continue serving our communities from Oban in a new lifeboat
named in their memory,” said Mr MacKinnon.
The legacy will cover around two thirds of the cost of the new vessel, while the RNLI is underwriting the whole project so work could get going on the new lifeboat.
“The hunt is on for further donors who can reduce the amount the charity needs to draw down from its reserves to bridge the gap,” added Mr MacKinnon.
Oban’s full time coxswain Ally Cerexhe told The Oban Times: “Unlike the rest of the fleet, the Shannon is propelled by water jets instead of traditional propellers making them more manoeuvrable and agile, giving us the capability of operating safely closer to the shore than we can at the moment.
“Across our volunteer crew we have a number of different specialisms with teams of coxswains, helms, navigators and mechanics, all of whom will need to undergo training and familiarisation with the new vessel.
“As a result, we imagine that there will be quite a long time when the people of Oban will see two lifeboats moored at the South Pier as we train on one and respond to call-outs on the other.”
Oban is Scotland’s busiest single vessel all-weather lifeboat station and was the first to exceed 100 callouts in a single year. Its volunteer crew cover just under 500 miles of coastline, including more than 100 islands and 17 sea lochs.
The Mora Edith MacDonald has so far covered some 25,800 nautical miles on 1,447 shouts, including 296 medical evacuations from Mull – with two babies born on board to Mull mums at sea between Craignure and Oban.
Last year Oban Lifeboat volunteers celebrated 50 years of saving lives at sea.
Oban serves one of the largest stretches of coastline in the UK, flanked by RNLI colleagues based at Tobermory, Islay and Campbeltown.