History

Bob working on the Howard D

Jersey’s first motorised lifeboat has been nationally recognised. Restored to its full splendour in 2008 by Jersey Heritage boat builders, Howard D. has now been included on the National Register of Historic Vessels, or NRHV.

The lifeboat played a huge part in Jersey’s rich maritime history and takes its place alongside such illustrious vessels as HMS Victory, The Mary Rose and The Cutty Sark, which are also on the register.

The NRHV has strict guidelines that have to be met before any vessel is added to the list. The boat must be over 33 feet long; over 50 years old; must be intact and have demonstrable and significant associations with the UK.

Master mariner and volunteer boat builder Bob Asplet was one of the dedicated men involved with the restoration and is understandably delighted. He said: “We are very pleased, yes. We really didn’t expect to get anything like this.”

Great leap forward

Howard D. was donated to the RNLI in 1937 by philanthropist T. B Davis and was named after his second son who was killed at the Battle of the Somme.

The arrival of the sturdy wooden vessel marked a great leap forward for Jersey’s lifeboatmen as Doug Ford from Jersey Heritage explains:

“Prior to this, the lifeboat men had to row or sail to any wrecks. Now they could let the motor take the strain.

“For the first time, the motorised lifeboat could get to the wrecks as quick as other vessels in the area. It was a definite plus for seagoing folk,” he said.

Measuring a modest 35 feet and with limited deck space, one wonders where exactly the shipwrecked souls deposited themselves during a rescue. But the cramped conditions did not prevent the lifeboat from saving 66 lives while in service.

Doug Ford said: “You wouldn’t think it, but it was supposed to carry between thirty and forty people. Nowadays that would have been classed as heavily overloaded.

“It is unsinkable. Beneath the deck are sealed air boxes so technically if she goes over she will right herself and float. That’s the theory anyway,” he joked.

Masterful restoration: Howard D

Given Howard D.’s rugged nature, it’s hardly surprising she ended up being used as a fishing boat in the North Sea off East Anglia. Luckily for the craftsmen at Jersey Heritage, the previous owners had taken good care of the old workhorse, and retained the original RNLI colours.

Bob Asplet said: “When we first got the boat it was in remarkably good condition, bearing in mind she had been working as a fishing boat for twenty odd years.

“The only difference was the wheelhouse. They had put a much more functional wheelhouse on board. At some stage the engine had been replaced by a diesel, because the original was a petrol one. In this modern age you would not be allowed to have a petrol engine in a boat like this.”

Symbolic

Howard D. underwent successful sea trials in May of last year and Bob Asplet believes the old campaigner can still play a symbolic role in the RNLI’s traditions.

He said: “The tradition is the lifeboat on station leads the new incoming lifeboat in to the station. But as we are hanging around here, we are going to follow up like tail-end charlies so that we will have three generations of lifeboats on the sea.

The Howard D can reach 7 knots

“The brand new lifeboat that is coming on service; the boat that has been on service for the last ten years or so; and the first motorised lifeboat, which hasn’t been on service here since 1948.”