Arun (Lifeboat)

[john sefton]

The 10p stamp in the set features the latest type (1974) of boat for the R.N.L.I., the Arun, costing £78,000, and built by William Osborne Ltd., at Littlehampton on the banks of the river from which she takes her name. She is designed to lie afloat and delivery of further boats of her class will enable the institutions fleet to be deployed to better advantage.
Her hull is of cold moulded wood and contains 24 watertight compartments, together with enough buoyancy foam to keep the vessel afloat even if all of these these are holed. In the event of a capsize she will right herself. Her length is 52 ft., with a beam of 17 ft., and her twin Caterpillar engines give her a top speed of over 18 knots.
Thus it has been possible to produce a life-boat combining the necessary standards of stability and seaworthiness with speed. She is fitted out with the latest navigation and communication equipment.
The Arun, fmanced by gifts from Bird's Eye Foods Ltd., from Miss A.M. Johnston and from four legacies, was launched in April 1971, and arrived in Guernsey in October 1972, following evaluation trials and demonstration visits totalling over 15,000 miles in the Pentland Firth, Spain, and Scandinavia. Within hours of her arrival on station she dashed to the rescue of the crew of a French fishing craft wedged firmly and filling with water on a notorious group of rocks 25 miles South of the island, It was entirely due to the speed of the Arun that the four men crew of the fishing boat were rescued. A few days later she saved two further lives.

Sea Breezes February 1974.
Guernsey SG97

[aukepalmhof]

Only for a short time used in Guernsey.
From 1972 till 1997 stationed at Barry Dock.
1997 Sold to Dundee, Scotland for commercial work, renamed ARUN ADVENTURER.
2011 I believe still there.

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/pho ... lid=355084