This is a website to progress the restoration of the 1896 Samuel Fletcher of Manchester wooden pulling and sailing Watson Class lifeboat ON393 based in Blackpool.
Built in 1896, ON393 is historically significant as the oldest Watson type pulling and sailing lifeboat and the fourth oldest RNLI lifeboat known to be in existence.
In December 1896 a new Watson Class 36ft 2in, twelve-oared pulling and sailing lifeboat, named Samuel Fletcher of Manchester ON393, built by Forrestt at a cost of £591, was placed on service at Blackpool.
This was the second boat at Blackpool of the same name. The original Samuel Fletcher of Manchester, was a pulling and sailing self righter, supplied in 1885. She weighed in at three tons and was too heavy. So it was requested that the builders supply a boat more suited to shore launching and rowing. Hence the second lighter boat was specifically designed I.G. Watson and built by Forrestt of Limehouse in 1896 for the Blackpool crew.
The Samuel Fletcher of Manchester was withdrawn from service in 1930 after being credited with saving twenty eight lives
She then served as a pleasure boat on Blackpool’s Stanley Park boating lake until the late 1990’s when she was decommissioned and placed in storage in the boatshed.
In 2009 the Stanley Park boatshed was required for alternative uses and Bruce Allen and the Friends of Samuel Fletcher found a home for the boat at the Sea Scouts in Bispham.
In 2012 the boat was moved to long term storage at the Blackpool Council Lightworks Depot. Bruce Allen and the Friends made few attempts made a few attempts to get funding for a full restoration.
In 2018, Steve Williams and the maintenance team involved with Lytham Windmill and Lifeboat Museum, with the support of Blackpool Council and Bruce Allen, take on the project. A strip down of the boat and a full assessment started in March 2018. With a view to a full restoration in 2 to 5 years.
