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HISTORY OF WILLIAM & KATE JOHNSTON
William & Kate Johnston was on station at New Brighton at the entrance
to the River Mersey from 1923 until 1950.
She saved more than two hundred lives. Two of her Coxswains were awarded
Silver Medals.
The vessel also received a special award from the Government of France
for rescuing the French steamer Emile Delmas in the early hours of 24
November 1928. This is an exceptionally proud record.
The crew of the William & Kate Johnston shortly after the rescue of the French steamer Emile Delmas.
The lifeboat historian Nicholas Leach has written:
"The 60ft Barnett class represent one of the best and most seaworthy designs ever built for the RNLI, as well as one of the most elegant .... With a displacement of forty tons and a draught of 4ft 6ins such a lifeboat had never before been built. Her size however meant that she was immediately limited to operating from stations where she could be kept permanently afloat ....
The class had flush decks, without sunken well or cockpits. Shelter for the crew, engine controls and engine room hatches were all mounted at deck level. For the first time two cabins were provided, one fore and one aft, which could hold between them about fifty people. As they were fitted with a stove and lavatory "for the first time it will be possible to give at once to the rescued shelter, warmth and warm food". This was quite a bonus and rather a novelty for the time .... The innovation of shelters, as they were then, was quite novel for the RNLI as crews were expected to be able to cope easily with anything the sea threw at them more or less unprotected. Barnett considered this shelter useful as it "also affords considerable protection to the coxswain and other members of the crew stationed aft."
The hull was contructed of teak, double skinned with eleven transverse and three longitudinal steel bulkheads which formed fifteen main water tight compartments. The idea of having two engines ... impressed the RNLI's technicians quite considerably, in fact so much so that only a jury rig was provided consisting of a small triangle fore lug and jib which could be set on a single mast ... Although not self righting the hull was considered unsinkable, a word which has been bandied about when talking about lifeboat designs from before 1800 right up to the present day. Suffice to say she was as near to unsinkable as the skills of her time permitted. No expense was spared."
(extracts from "The Largest Lifeboats in the World" by Nicholas Leach,1992)
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