he story of a boat called City of Sheffield. This is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Tyne-class all-weather lifeboat, No. 47-023, built in 1988, that is currently landlocked at the National Emergency Services Museum at West Bar.
The vessel was originally fundraised by the people of Sheffield, with the cost being met by Mrs Mary Mabel Walker. It was named City of Sheffield by HRH, the Duchess of Kent in July 1989 at Whitby Lifeboat Station.
It later served at Ramsgate, Hartlepool and Sennen Cove, Cornwall, before finding a permanent home in 2001 at Poole, in Dorset.
The “Big Orange Boat,” as it was affectionately nicknamed by locals, served Poole Harbour and coastline until being decommissioned in November 2016.
During its operational lifetime, the City of Sheffield was launched 557 times, saving 650 people, with RNLI volunteer crews onboard for 752 hours.
After being put in storage at Poole, it was moved to the National Emergency Services Museum on a five-year loan in 2017.
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