Name Edward Bridges (Civil Service No 37)

1. What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate history in her physical fabric?

Evidence for designs, functions, techniques, processes, styles, customs and habits or uses and associations in relation to events and people.  How early, intact or rare these features are may impact on significance.

EDWARD BRIDGES was designed as an Arun class lifeboat, with a transom stern and semi-displacement hull, resulting in a faster type of vessel developed to replace the traditional 8 knot rescue craft.  The design was drawn up for the RNLI by J.A. MacLachlan working for naval architects G.L. Watson of Glasgow and then refined by the RNLI following the prototype trials.  EDWARD BRIDGES was constructed in timber, with three skins of agba on laminated frames.  She has a plywood deck and aluminium wheelhouse. As the third prototype vessel of her class, she reflected some early changes in design since the original build.  Her length was 54 foot, two feet longer than the first craft, and the transom corners were radiused to produce an elliptical stern which, it was felt, would give better handling in following seas and also make the corners of the transom less vulnerable.  The flying bridge was moved to the forward end of the wheelhouse for better visibility, the front of which was rounded.  EDWARD BRIDGES has been preserved in the condition in which she left service, complete with her original engines and thus shows the wear and tear of her active life.

2. What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence?

Associations with people or places. Off-ship research.

EDWARD BRIDGES was built by William Osborne of Littlehampton at a cost of £150,000 provided by the ‘Civil Service Lifeboat Fund’. She was named after Baron Bridges (who had a distinguished career in the Civil Service) in a ceremony with the RNLI President the Duke of Kent on 17 June 1975.  EDWARD BRIDGES was on service at Torbay for 19 years giving her a strong regional significance to the area.  During this period, she was launched 456 times, saving 286 lives. Her most famous rescue took place in 1978 when ten lives were saved from the cargo vessel LYRMA of Panama, with the award of an RNLI gold medal and six bronze medals to coxswain and crew.  Further bronze medals were given in 1978 for rescues involving a pilot cutter and a fishing trawler.  EDWARD BRIDGES went to Falmouth and Bangor for short periods during service and, since retirement, has been based at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham.  She was recorded on the National Register of Historic Vessels in 2024.

3. How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?

Overall aesthetic impact of the vessel, her lines, material she was built from and her setting.  Does she remain in her working environment?

EDWARD BRIDGES was built as a fast all-weather lifeboat and was an iconic and distinguished looking vessel in her distinctive RNLI livery.  Her twin Caterpillar engines, combined with her longer length, enabled her to reach speeds of 20 knots, with fuel tanks having a 620 imperial gallon capacity, giving her the range of 250 nautical miles for which she was designed.   EDWARD BRIDGES has only ever been used for her original purpose during her working life, so has retained her original shape and form.  She is now in static preservation on public display as part of the lifeboat collection at The Historic Dockyard, Chatham.

Source: NHS-UK team, March 2024