Lerwick Lifeboat Station

At a meeting of the RNLI committee of management on Thursday 20 March 1930, it was decided to establish a lifeboat station at Lerwick, following improvements in communication systems by the Board of Trade. A lifeboat of the most powerful type, a 51-foot Barnett-class lifeboat, was ordered due to the location. Twin 60-hp engines would provide a maximum speed of 8¾ knots, and a range of 176 miles at her cruising speed of 7½ knots, and was due to be supplied in July 1930. As if to prove the need for a lifeboat, only eight days later, on 28 March 1930, the fishing trawler Ben Doran was wrecked off Shetland, with the loss of all nine crew. The nearest lifeboat at the time was at , which made a…