Greathead-class lifeboat

Mr Henry Greathead's lifeboat
Class overview
Builders	Henry Greathead of South Shields
Operators	Royal National Lifeboat Institution Royal Navy Other operators
Built	1789–1810
In service	1789–1880
Completed	48
Retired	48
Preserved	1
General characteristics
Type	Lifeboat (rescue)
Length	22 ft (6.7 m) to 31 ft (9.4 m)
Beam	8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) to 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Propulsion	Oars
Crew	8–12

Greathead-class lifeboats are a class of lifeboat built by Henry Greathead of South Shields between 1789 and 1810, following a competition to design a lifeboat.^[1]

Of 48 boats constructed, only one survives to this day. The Zetland can be found on display at the Zetland Lifeboat Museum and Redcar Heritage Centre, in Redcar, North Yorkshire.^[2]

Of over 1000 vessels listed on the National Historical Ships Register, Zetland, alongside vessels including HMS Warrior (1860), HMS Trincomalee and Cutty Sark, is one of just 200 vessels regarded to be of "pre-eminent National or Regional significance", known as the National Historic Fleet. Of these 200 vessels, only five are older than the Zetland, with two such vessels being Mary Rose and HMS Victory.^[3]

History

In 1789, the ship Adventure, on passage from London to South Shields, ran aground at the entrance to the River Tyne. With conditions too rough for local men and their boats, spectators watched on helpless, as all hands were lost.^[4][5]

As a result of this disaster, the committee of the Lawe House in South Shields set a competition for the design for a lifeboat, with a prize of two guineas. Two notable entrants were local men, William Wouldhave and Henry Greathead. Neither man won the competition outright, but the committee took aspects of each design, coming up with a final design. They offered each man a half share of the prize, but Wouldhave declined to accept half, and the committee subsequently ordered a revised design lifeboat from Greathead.^[1]

Design

A Greathead lifeboat was typically 30 feet (9.1 m) in length by 10 feet (3.0 m) in the beam, usually rowing 10 or 12 oars. A larger additional oar was fitted to each end of the hull for steering.^[6]

The clinker built boat had a double-ended curved hull, allowing for easier rowing, in either direction. Cork blocks were fitted around the gunwale and underneath the thwarts for additional buoyancy, and an additional cork band on the outside of the hull also provided some impact protection.^[6]

Greathead lifeboats

No.	Donor / Operator	Built	In service[7]	Station	Comments[7]
1	Committee of Trade / Port of Newcastle	1789	1790–1830	South Shields	[Note 1] Wrecked 1830
2	Duke of Northumberland / Local Committee, 1840– Tyne LB Inst.	1798	1798–c.1846	North Shields	[Note 2] Named Northumberland Damaged and Sold
3	Duke of Northumberland /	1800		Lisbon
4	Cathcart Dempster & Lloyd's / Local Committee	1800	1800–c.1824	St Andrews	Damaged 1823
5	Local Subscription & Lloyd's / Local Committee	1800	1800–1834	Montrose
6	Local Subscription, & Lloyd's (agent Lt. Wm. Clarke, RN) / Lowestoft LB Society	1801	1801–1802 1802–1807	Lowestoft Gorleston	[Note 3] Sold in 1807
7	Local Subscription & Lloyd's (agent Rev. Dr. R. D. Frank) / Local Committee, 1806– Suffolk Humane Soc.	1801	1801–1825 1825–1835	Bawdsey Haven Woodbridge Haven	[Note 4]
8	Ramsgate Harbour Trust	1802	1802–1824	Ramsgate
9	R. T. Johnson	1802		Memel
10	Local Subscription & Lloyd's (agent Fras. Gibson) / Local Committee	1802	1802–1817	West Whitby	Unfit, 1817
11	Lord. Dundas, Rev. Thos. Pym Williamson / Local Committee, Tyne LB Society, RNLI	1802	1802–1880	Redcar	[Note 5] Later named Zetland, preserved.
12	Crewe Trustees	1802	1802–1827	Holy Island	[Note 6]
13	Duke of Atholl / Local Committee	1802	1803–1814	Douglas	Cost £200. Named Atholl. Broke from moorings and wrecked, 1814
14	Alexander Baxter / Local Committee	1802	1802–1820	Aberdeen	[Note 7] Wrecked, March 1820
15	Provost Geo. Charles & Royal Artillery Co. of Ayr / Ayr Harbour Trust	1802	1803–c.1819	Ayr	[Note 8]
16	Liverpool Dock Trustees / Liverpool Corporation	1802	1803–1818	Hoylake
17	Hon. Geo. Rose, MP & Lloyd's / Local Committee	1802	1802–1825	Christchurch, Dorset
18	Royal States of Guernsey	1803	1803–????	Guernsey	Cost £170
19	John Godlee & Lloyd's / Local Committee	1803	1803–1809 1809–1816	Newhaven Brighton	[Note 9]
20	Philip Langmead, MP / Local Committee	1803	1803–1824	Plymouth	[Note 10]
21	Local Subscription & Lloyd's (agent Wm. Mill) / Local Committee	1803	1803–1866	Arbroath	[Note 11]
22	Capt. T. H. Driver	1803		Pillau
23	Lord Rolle & Lloyd's / Local Committee	1803	1803–c.1815	Exmouth	[Note 12]
24	Emperor of Russia	1803		Kronstadt
25	Edward Chatterton & Lloyd's / Local Committee	1803	1803–c.1825	Rye Harbour
26	R. D. Oxnam & Lloyd's / Local Committee	1803	1803–c.1812	Penzance	[Note 13] Sold 1812.
27	Prince Royal of Denmark	1803		Elsinore
28	Prince Royal of Denmark	1803		Copenhagen
29	Whitehaven Harbour Trust	1803	1803–1823	Whitehaven	[Note 14]
30	King of Prussia	1803		Stettin
31	Sir Charles Bagge	1803		Gothenburg
–	Norwich Mariners Assoc. / Local Committee, 1823– Norfolk Shipwreck Assoc.	1804	1805–1830 1830–1851	Cromer Wells-next-the-Sea	[Note 15]
–	Hon. East India Company	1805		Bengal
–	Local Subscription & Lloyd's / Local Committee, 1827– Lincs. Coast Shipwreck Assoc.	1805	1805–1824 1827–1829 1829–1830	Bridlington Saltfleet Donna Nook	[Note 16] Unfit, 1830
–	Local Subscription & Lloyd's / Local Committee	1805	1805–c.1825	Newhaven (Leith)
–	Government of the United States	1806		United States
–	The King of Sweden	1806		Sweden
–	Sir William Forbes/ Local Committee	1806	1806–1831	Fraserburgh
–	Local Subscription/ Town Council, 1818– Harbour Trust	1807	1807–1834	Montrose II
–	Dunbar Harbour Authority	1808	1808–1821	Dunbar	Cost £372. Named Lady Anne Murray. Unfit, 1821
–	Sir Matthew Ridley & Lloyd's/ Ridley Estate Trustees	1808	1808–1810	Blyth	[Note 17] Wrecked 31 March 1810
–	Royal Navy	1808
–	Royal Navy	1808
–	Royal Navy	1808
–	Royal Navy	1808
–	Royal Navy	1808
–	H.M. Government	1810		Heligoland
–	Public Subscription and Lloyd's / Trinity House of Kingston-upon-Hull	1810	1810–1823	Spurn Point	[Note 18] Broke adrift and wrecked, 8 December 1823

No's 1–31 as listed by Greathead in "The Report of the Invention of the Lifeboat (1803/04)"

See also

• List of RNLI stations
• List of former RNLI stations

Notes

1. 30-foot (9.1 m) x 10-foot (3.0 m) 10-oared lifeboat, costing £150.
2. 28-foot (8.5 m) x 9-foot-4-inch (2.84 m) 10-oared lifeboat, costing £150.
3. 30-foot (9.1 m) x 10-foot-6-inch (3.20 m) 10-oared lifeboat, costing £165.
4. 30-foot (9.1 m) x 10-foot-6-inch (3.20 m) 10-oared lifeboat.
5. 31-foot (9.4 m) x 10-foot-6-inch (3.20 m) 10-oared lifeboat, costing £200.
6. 31-foot (9.4 m) x 10-foot-6-inch (3.20 m) 10-oared lifeboat.
7. 30-foot (9.1 m) x 8-foot-9-inch (2.67 m) 10-oared lifeboat.
8. 10-oared lifeboat.
9. 22-foot (6.7 m) 8-oared lifeboat.
10. 22-foot (6.7 m) 8-oared lifeboat.
11. 25-foot (7.6 m) x 9-foot (2.7 m) 10-oared lifeboat, costing £120.
12. 27-foot (8.2 m) x 10-foot (3.0 m) 10-oared lifeboat, costing £150.
13. 27-foot (8.2 m) x 10-foot (3.0 m) 8-oared lifeboat, costing £150.
14. 28-foot (8.5 m) x 10-foot (3.0 m) 12-oared lifeboat.
15. 25-foot (7.6 m) x 8-foot-6-inch (2.59 m) 10-oared lifeboat.
16. 30-foot (9.1 m) x 10-foot (3.0 m) 12-oared lifeboat.
17. 30-foot (9.1 m) 10-oared lifeboat.
18. 10-oared lifeboat, costing £200.

References

1. "1785: The first lifeboats". RNLI. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
2. "Brief History". Zetland Lifeboat Museum and Redcar Heritage Centre. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
3. "National Historic Fleet". National Historic Ships. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
4. Howarth, Patrick (1981). Lifeboat In Danger's Hour. London, New York, Sydney, Toronto: Hamlyn. p. 10. ISBN 0600349594.
5. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (2076): 78 v. 27 March 1789.
6. "Lifeboat(1790-1810); Service vessel; Lifeboat; Greathead type". Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
7. Farr, Grahame; Morris, Jeff (1992). List of British Lifeboats Part 1 & 2 (Second ed.). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 2–3.