Designed by RNLI Architect Richard Oakley, there were a total of sixteen variants of his 48’6′ Oakley Lifeboat built for the RNLI between 1963 and 1973.
(1) ON968, 48-01, “Earl And Countess Howe” built in 1963, served at Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight 1963 – 77, Walton-on-the-Naze 1977 – 84. She was the only magnificent Mk1 48′ lifeboat built with a unique aft positioned open cockpit. She was withdrawn from active service in 1984 and put on display at RNLI Poole until 2003 when the tragic decision to have her broken up at Portishead was made, we quite literally will not see her like again.
(2) ON989, 48-02, “James And Catherine Macfarlane” built in 1967, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk2, served at Padstow 1967 – 83, then at Lizard-Cadgwith 1984 -87 (replaced at Lizard RNLI by ON1008 in 1987). Retired from service in 1988 as there was a concern that the self righting ballast tank copper rivets on the Mk1 & Mk2 48’6″ Oakleys were corroding internally, I have surveyed inside the tanks on 48-02 while under restoration in 2018 and they were perfect. After coming off active service she was put on display for 29 years at Lands End under loan from the RNLI until being bought by a former crewman and his son, Robert & Simon Francis in 2017 and is undergoing a full restoration near Winchester. A very special boat to me personally as she was under my Dad’s command for a period at Padstow and of course I learned to give tours of her aged four in 1971, such good news that she is being restored as I’d feared she would just stay on display until she deteriorated beyond saving!
(3) ON990, 48-03, “Ruby And Arthur Reed”, built in 1967, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk2, served at Cromer 1967 – 84 and St.Davids 1985 – 88. Put on display without her engines on a roundabout within Hythe Marina, Southhampton Water from 1990 where she remains today. She is clearly visible from the Solent when sailing by. Appears to be in good order but I’ve not been aboard her myself yet.
(4) ON1007, 48-004, “George Urie Scott”, first Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk3 re-named as Solent Class, built by Groves and Gutteridge, Cowes, IOW, 1969. Delivered by my new to station at Lochinver in 1969 where she served until 1978, then Rosslare Harbour 1979 to 80, back to Lochinver 1985 – 89 and finally in the Relief Fleet 1989 – 90. Sold out of service in 1990 and now largely original and in excellent condition with some creature comforts added, as a private cruiser in Holland.
(5) ON1008, 48-005, “James And Mariska Joicey”, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk3 re-named as Solent Class, built by Groves and Gutteridge, Cowes, IOW, 1969. Delivered by Lieutenant Commander Brian Miles new to station at Peterhead in 1969. Served at Peterhead 1969-86, The Lizard 1987-88 and Relief Fleet, 1989-90. See other sections of this website for more expansive information.
(6) ON1009, 48-006, “Jack Shayler And The Lees”, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk3 re-named as Solent Class, built by Groves and Gutteridge, Cowes, IOW, 1970. Stationed at Bembridge IOW 1970 -87, Dunbar 1988, Wicklow 1989, Relief Fleet 1989 – 90. Transferred to Estonian Lifeboat Service, retired 2004, became a pilot boat at Tallinn then fell into disrepair near the Seaplane Museum, Tallinn. Bought by my old mate Derek John Briggs in 2018, under restoration at Tallinn with plan to bring her back to the UK.
(7) ON1010, 48-007, “David And Elizabeth King and EB”, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk3 re-named as Solent Class, built by Groves and Gutteridge, Cowes, IOW, 1970. Placed on station at Longhope, Orkney to replace the 47′ Watson Class Lifeboat, “TGB” that was involved with the Longhope Lifeboat Disaster on 1969 when all her crew were lost on service. She served at Longhope 1970-88, Invergordon 1988-89, Relief Fleet 1989-90. Sold privately in 1990, currently owned by friend and ex colleague Professor Martin Pitts as a live aboard in Bowling Basin, near Glasgow. Will make passage to her new mooring at Liverpool late April / May 2020.
(8) ON1011, 48-008, “R. Hope Roberts”, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk3 re-named as Solent Class, built by Camper Nicholson, Gosport, Hampshire, 1969. Stationed at Rosslare Harbour 1969-78, Fraserburgh 1979-85, Galway Bay 1985-87, Courtmacsherry Harbour 1987-93. Then transferred to the Australian Lifeboat Service as “Sea Guardian”, retired in 2015 and now a private cruiser in Nerang, Queensland, Australia. There is some talk now (in 2020)of her returning to the UK.
(9) ON1012, 48-009, “City of Birmingham”, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk3 re-named as Solent Class, built by Camper Nicholson, Gosport, Hampshire, 1970. Stationed at Exmouth 1970-83, Walton and Frinton 1984-93, Relief Fleet 1993-94. She was then transferred to ADES in Uruguay in 1995 as ADES 14. She served at Colonia del Sacramento 1995-2013, Juan Lacaze 2013-15 before being retired from active service and sold privately. Our friends serving in ADES have advised that ON1012 is currently as of May 2021, stored in a lot on the main highway of town with the intention to restore her.
(10) ON1013, 48-010, “Royal British Legion Jubilee”, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk3 re-named as Solent Class, built by Camper Nicholson, Gosport, Hampshire, 1970. Named by HM Queen Elizabeth 11 at Henley on Thames in 1972. Served in the Relief Fleet 1971-78, Frazerburgh 1978-79, Relief Fleet 1979-86, Peterhead 1986-88 (replacing ON1008 on station), then finally Relief Fleet 1989-90. All Solents can be inclined to weave slightly in certain condidtions, but 48-010 for some unknown reason, proved to be particularly reluctant to hold anything even vaguely resembling a straight course during her sea trials, which is why she wasn’t finally accepted by the RNLI until as late as 1971. Her contra-rotating engines were changed to inward turning (as oppose to outward turning on the other 48’6″ boats) in an attempt to cure her inclination to wander off course, which I’m assuming affected some sort of solution to her wayward tendencies. She was sold out of service in 1990 to what transpired to be drug smugglers (as was ON1008) and tragically exploded off of Scotland when customs had boarded her and the smugglers set alight to her causing a gas cylinder to ignite, this destroyed the aft cabin at the same time throwing a customs officer into the water between the Customs Cutter and her hull where he was tragically killed. ON1013 was towed ashore and eventually restored by adding the superstructure from ON1014 “The Three Sisters” at Wakefield by the enigmatic Spike, who also rebuilt her original Gardner 6LX engines to an exacting standard. We visited Spike in 2018 and was able to purchase some genuine ex RNLI 48’6″ parts from him that I’m using on ON1008. In late 2020 after a spell with a new owner, she was put up for sale and despite being advertised widely, very reasonably priced and in very sound structural condition, nobody came forward so her engines were sold off and the boat scrapped in December 2020, to take a positive from this, we were able to buy some original parts off of her to use on J&MJ.
(11) ON1014, 48-011, “The Three Sisters”, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk3 re-named as Solent Class, built by Camper Nicholson, Gosport, Hampshire, 1970. She was the last of the first batch of eight Solent Class lifeboats build which we retrospectively now refer to as Solent Mk1’s. She was stationed at Thurso 1970-88, Wicklow 1988-89 and Relief Fleet 1989-90. Sold out of service she was bought privately and survived largely unaltered until the early 2000’s when her superstructure was removed (see ON1013) and a completely new design of steel superstructure added, totally changing her external form and providing a massively spacious interior space. She is currently nearing the end of her extensive refit under the ownership of my good friend Darren Flint in Plymouth, Devon. He envisages to use her commercially in survey and diving work. ON1014 has been the donor for the original Mathway steering system and helmsman’s stool (via Mark Raynes) now fitted to the resurgent ON1008.
(12) ON1015, 48-012, “Charles Henry”, Oakley 48′ 6″ Mk2, built in 1968. Served at Selsey 1969-83 and Baltimore 1984-7. Like all the Mk1 & 2, 48’6″ Oakley Lifeboats she was immediately withdrawn from service following (now largely refuted) concerns of corrosion of the copper nails in the self righting water ballast tanks. She was then put on display on a trailer at the rather erroneously named Merryhill (Merryhell as the locals call it) Shopping Centre, near Dudley in the West Midlands. She survived that posting and was sold to a private purchaser who transported her down to Devon for a thorough restoration which included removing all the water ballast system and installing concrete ballast instead. Following the death of her owner she languished on the Exeter Canal for many years as a houseboat until she was bought by student Stephanie Lucas in 2015. The work required ultimately proved too much for Stephanie on her student’s megre budget but she sensibly realised this and so she sold it on to lifeboat enthusiasts Michael and Paul Thompson, who got her running and sailed up to Great Yarmouth. After doing some refurbishment and sea trips on her, Michael and Paul sold her to my good friends Captain Mark and Jamie Tyler who sailed her up to North Shields on the River Tyne and have carried out an exhaustive programme of works on her since 2017. I had the pleasure of going on a passage aboard Charles Henry with family and friends from North Shields to Blyth and back in 2019 and had a great time, we even carried out some anchor deployment and recovery exercises which were useful training for ON1008. I was able to donate to Mark and Jamie an original ex ON1016 Oakley 48’6″ Mk2 upper vent cover that I’d purchased off of Scott Snowling. A few months later they kindly donated a radar system to me which is now installed on ON1008. Work on Charles Henry continues to be carried out to exacting standards.
