Over two thousand ships are believed to have been wrecked on the
Goodwin Sands, and the masts of several wrecks are visible from the shore at low tide. For many years, there were three lifeboats located along a 3 miles stretch of coast opposite the sands, , and Walmer.
1800–1939 Ever since its founding in 1824, the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), later to become the RNLI in 1854, would award medals for deeds of gallantry at sea, even if no lifeboats were involved. In 1830,
RNIPLS Gold and Silver Medals were awarded, for the rescue of 13 crew from the ship
Mountaineer, and three Deal boatmen, on 24 November 1829. In 1856, the RNLI issued an appeal to place a lifeboat at Walmer, highlighting the dangers of the Goodwin Sands to international trade through the
Port of London. One member of the
Royal Thames Yacht Club offered to pay half the cost of a lifeboat, if the remaining club members raised the remainder. A site for a boathouse was provided by landowner Mr Frederick Leath, and a wooden boathouse was constructed, costing £186-11s-0d. A 29-foot 6in self-righting 'pulling and sailing' (P&S) lifeboat (one with oars and sails), costing £160-2s-6d, was built by Forrestt of
Limehouse, and arrived along with a launching carriage in Walmer in November 1856. The boat was named
Royal Thames Yacht Club. In 1871, a new brick-built boathouse was constructed, replacing the 1856 wooden boathouse, which was dismantled, and reconstructed at North Deal. The Walmer station was closed in 1912, but was reopened in 1927, when it was deemed the most suitable of the three local stations to operate the intended motor-powered lifeboat. Lifeboat
Barbara Fleming (ON 480) was transferred from Kingsdown when that station was closed, and kept on a launching cradle at the head of the beach. Soon afterwards, from 1933, the station had its first motor lifeboat. In 1933, the Beach Type motor lifeboat
Charles Dibdin (Civil Service No.2) (ON 762) was placed on service. She would take part in the
Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. In 1944, Coxswain Joseph Mercer was awarded the
RNLI Bronze Medal for the rescue of 13 men from an anti-submarine boat stranded on the Goodwin Sands. In 26 years service to Walmer,
Charles Dibdin (Civil Service No.2) (ON 762) would be launched 412 times, and save 241 lives.
Postwar to present The last All-weather lifeboat at Walmer was the RNLB
Hampshire Rose (ON 1024). Launching 132 times in 15 years, she would save 57 lives. In 1964, a Inshore lifeboat had been placed at Walmer. When the
Hampshire Rose was retired from service on 5 May 1990, she was replaced with the addition of a lifeboat, and Walmer was permanently established as an Inshore lifeboat station. The boathouse was extended in 1992, to accommodate the
Talus Atlantic 85 DO-DO launch carriage. A new Atlantic 21, RNLB
James Burgess (B-589), was also placed on service in 1992, in the same year as a visit by the Queen Mother as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and on 22 January 1997 a new lifeboat, RNLB
Lord Kitchener (D-514), was placed on service. ==Station honours==