Ebb & Flow

In need of a new home…

Night and day, throughout the year, the permanent and volunteer RNLI crews at Tower Lifeboat Station, afloat on the central London tidal Thames, are ready to come to the rescue of anyone in trouble on the river. Since opening on January 2nd in 2002, they have had nearly nine thousand call-outs for various emergencies, and their intervention has actually saved 346 lives so far. Covering the river between Battersea and Barking Creek, they liaise, and often work closely with the Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit; the London Fire Brigade’s Lambeth fire boats; the London Port Authority; and the other three RNLI lifeboat stations watching over the Thames from Teddington, Chiswick, and Gravesend. They also work closely with the London Ambulance Service, who are on hand to take over care of casualties.
Tower Lifeboat Station is the busiest in the UK. There are ten full time crew members and fifty-five volunteers, each serving at least two twelve-hour shifts a month, ensuring that the station is always manned and the lifeboat ready to launch within ninety seconds of a call.
However, now their floating accommodation has more or less come to the end of its useful life and is in urgent need of replacement. The building rises and falls about seven metres with each tide, and passing boats cause it to bang, clang and crunch against the river wall, so that the damage inflicted over the years is now beyond repair. Added to that, the accommodation is cramped and crews are unable to rest properly during long shifts. They also need more room to attend to casualties in a private space before their transfer to an ambulance to take them on to hospital.

A Little History
Rob Jeffries, curator of the Thames River Police Museum at Wapping, and ex-member of the River Police, has kindly given me some historical background to this landmark structure on the Thames and how it came to be the home of the Tower RNLI Lifeboat, having served before as a Police Station.
The Thames Marine Police Force became an official, government funded body in 1800 and were based on the riverside at Wapping. However they eventually needed more cover for their extra duties and “in 1817 the Marine Police acquired a couple of ex-Royal Navy vessels, taking the ‘hulks’ and converting them into floating Police Stations, one at Blackwall and one closer to Westminster.”
In 1870 the Thames Division took control of a pier close to Somerset House, owned by the Thames Conservancy, which had been a landing stage for steamboat passengers. With a large sign saying Thames Police Station, it was known as Waterloo Pier, before eventually becoming the present home of the Tower RNLI Lifeboat Station. Rob tells me “the living quarters were at the down river end of the pier, and included the home of Chief Inspectors when in charge of the station, and their families. I remember, I was on duty one day when an elderly lady arrived and asked if she could see the rooms where she was raised as the young daughter of a former Chief Inspector on Thames Division.”

Having heard from someone about floral displays on the pier, I asked Rob about this to which he replied that he didn’t know “how, why, or when the tradition started but the Met. Police used to have a Gardens Competition. It seems that in order to encourage other stations to partake, a Flower Pot or Window Box section was added to the categories, and at one time the Waterloo Pier used to enter in that section and, by all accounts, used to do quite well.”

Rob continues: “In the years following the Marchioness Disaster of August 20th, 1989, there were increased calls for a dedicated search and rescue service on the Thames in Central London.” Up until then it had been the river police who carried out rescue and recovery missions as just one part of their duties. Finally the RNLI was asked by the UK Government to provide a dedicated lifeboat cover along the tidal Thames. They were originally based at Tower Pier next to the Tower of London but they had to share the pier and its facilities with a number of others. When Waterloo Pier ceased operation as a Police Station, it began to deteriorate and as the RNLI were in need of their own space, they were able to take it over for a nominal price of £1.00. Rob explains: “A representative from the RNLI duly handed over a £1.00 coin to an inspector of the Marine Support Unit on the agreed handover date and the Inspector promptly handed the coin back as a ‘Donation’ to the RNLI charity.”
Though the Pier only cost the RNLI £1.00, they had to fund the sizeable cost of refurbishment, much of which came in donations. And, though having moved to below Waterloo Bridge, it was decided to keep their already established name of ‘Tower RNLI’ to avoid confusion, and to call their pier ‘Lifeboat Pier’.

The Waterloo Pier as a Police Station, in the picture above, was painted by Mackenzie Moulton in 1983 for Sergeant David Noall, one of his friends working with him for the Thames Police Force. He tells me that “the green launch on the right, was nick-named, the Green Parrot, but it was officially the Commissioners’ launch, used by senior officers visiting Thames Police Stations.” Joining the Met. at 19, his last thirteen years of service were spent in the Underwater Search Unit based at Wapping, London, a difficult, dangerous, and often distressing job, including the harrowing search for victims of the Marchioness disaster in 1989. He painted throughout his career in the Police, perhaps as an escape from some of the horrific sights he came across as police diver, and has been a successful artist for sixty years. Four of his paintings now hang in the Thames River Police Museum.

Appeal for the future
Whether you’re a riverside worker, or dweller, a Londoner, or visitor, you might one day have need of rescue along the central London Thames but even if not, your support for the Appeal (see link below) will mean that others will have the benefit of a swift and professional rescue.
“The target is £33,000 and this, along with other generous donations, will fund the £8.2 million (correct as of 5 August 2021) project to commission, prepare, and build the new RNLI Tower Lifeboat Station. Any funds raised over the full cost of the project will be used to fund other lifesaving activity. If not enough money is raised then general funds will be used for the balance of the project.”
The present Tower Lifeboat Station structure, though only twenty years in operation as part of the RNLI is in fact, as you have seen from its history, over 150 years old and beyond repair. A new station is needed with some urgency.
As mentioned above, Tower Lifeboat Station covers the sixteen miles between Battersea and Barking Creek and the demands on crews along this dangerous stretch of the river are extensive. They have to contend with the constant changing levels of the tides, which rise and fall as much as seven metres, and a tidal flow of more than five miles an hour, which means that they have to be aware of, and deal with, the way in which currents flow through the many bridges, piers, fixed obstacles along their sector, and numerous floating hazards.
Tower Lifeboat crews have attended to casualties on both leisure and commercial boats as well as casualties injured on some of the construction sites along the river. They are well-prepared and trained, and have carried out joint exercises with Thames Clippers and Cory tugs among others. They also frequently speed to the rescue of smaller craft such as motorboats, canoes, rowing boats and dinghies as well as people, cut off by the tide or, who by accident or design, find themselves in the cold waters of the river, where the average temperature is 12 degrees centigrade and survival can be as little as fifteen to twenty minutes. Their shouts are always a race against time.
Many voices from across London and beyond, have joined in to appeal for help in funding a new Tower Lifeboat Station, which will include much-needed modern facilities such as private, purpose-built spaces for casualty care, a drying room for kit, up-to-date equipment, more comfortable accommodation for the crews, and a new area for public engagement.

Holly McGlinchey adds her voice to the Appeal: “Now that I’m on crew, I love being part of the team and am so proud of the vital work that we do. But we need to carry on doing our lifesaving work in a station that is fit for the future. Our current station is old, cramped and lacks the proper facilities that we need. Please donate to our appeal so that we can have the station we deserve.”
See here how Holly helped save a life and became inspired to volunteer for the RNLI. She is now a valued member of the Tower Lifeboat crew.

To help build the new Tower Lifeboat Station please click donate and, as full-time crew member Chris Walker says:
“Be part of an enduring legacy that will make the Thames a safer place for everyone now and for years to come.”

Sources and further information:
Artist Mackenzie Moulton and ex-police diver
Appeal for Tower Lifeboat Station
British History Online
Rob Jeffries curator of the Thames River Police Museum
Chris Walker, helm at RNLI Tower Station
Meet three members of the Tower Volunteer Crew
Further details on the Appeal for a new Tower Lifeboat Station

Back on the Thames at last…

Slowly but surely, as covid restrictions have eased, the London Thames sightseeing and party boats have returned to the river on organised tours or private hire. And I’ve been able to photograph a number of them when their trips have coincided with my daily walks in Victoria Tower Gardens, close to the Houses of Parliament.

The RIVER PRINCESS in the photo above, and the THAMES PRINCESS below, are two of Thames Cruises’ fleet of five whose home is at Lambeth Pier, by the bridge. It was good, as it was with all the boats in this article, to see them out and about with passengers. They had remained, tied to their moorings, for so long.

One of the Thames Luxury Charters’ distinctive fleet, the EDWARDIAN, has made several trips passing under Westminster Bridge for various parties and press events, and the other day I managed to catch a glimpse of one their other boats, the ELIZABETHAN, with a relaxed looking party on board.

There are four Golden party boats and they’ve been active recently too. Three of them: GOLDEN FLAME; GOLDEN JUBILEE; and GOLDEN SUNRISE have passed close to Victoria Tower Gardens during the past month.

There are some gaps here due to timing and my being stationed in Victoria Tower Gardens. I was unable to catch the lovely Bateaux London dining cruises and as yet, I’ve been unable to photograph the party boats at night, though that’s a pleasure to look forward to in the autumn as the evenings draw in.

Further Information
As there have been many changes recently, this is not an exhaustive list. In some cases boats can be hired through different companies in package deals. Best to check online.
Bateaux London
City Cruises London
CPBS Capital Pleasure Boats
Cruise London
London Boat Tours & River Cruises
London Eye River Cruise
London Party Boats
Terrible Thames – Horrible Histories Cruise
Thames Boats & Events/Mainstream Leisure
Thames Cruises
Thames Luxury Charters
Uber Boat by Thames Clippers
Viscount Cruises

Part One of my article on W.L.Wyllie’s paintings from the book London to the Nore, 1905, covered the stretch of the Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge. The paintings posted here follow the river from Tower Bridge to Belvedere. Along this stretch, as throughout the book, Wyllie’s pictures are accompanied by his wife Marion’s descriptions of their journey. Her writing draws the reader in, and I have chosen a few pieces for this next section to give you a feeling of the river as she saw things: its beauties, its less attractive though always interesting aspects, and how busy it was.

“Irongate Wharf […} is between Tower Bridge and the gates to Saint Katherine’s Dock [sic], which is surrounded by tall warehouses, so that only the masts of the ships can be seen from the river. These docks have the trade in wine and brandy, tobacco and rice, and for years were the rivals to the East and West India Docks.” Unlike today, when most goods arrive anonymously in containers, Marion notices a whole variety of merchandise waiting for distribution, “the quays piled with great new wine-barrels, currants, slates, corks and Spanish onions.” And a nice detail: “In one corner stands the Queen’s pipe, where all the contraband tobacco seized is burnt.”

As they sail past Limehouse, a favourite spot of Whistler’s, Marion remarks that “for a short part of its frontage, it has the quaintest group of houses to be found up or down the river. […] They are small, very narrow, and squeezed tight against one another, each painted in a bright contrasting colour; they have little balconies full of flowers, old world bow-windows, and odd storage places below. From the top of more than one flies the family washing.”

Turning again to the river she sees “more and more craft come crowding up [with the tide] pushing their way among the drifting dumb barges.” Among them: a Swedish ship carrying timber; a red and black fruit steamer; tugs with long winding tows of coal lighters; sailing barges; steamers from the General Steam and Netherlands Companies “some with big rope fenders artfully slung across their stems close to the water, so that they can push their way through the drifting dumb craft when there is no lane of open water to steer for; and on the Rotherhithe bank, Guernsey schooners shooting broken granite into dumb barges.” She describes watermen and bargees at work, their rowing skills and their repartee “at this they beat cabmen hollow”, and brings the varied sounds of intense river activity to life: myriad calls; rattles; anchor chains crashing as they’re let go; clanking of windlasses; the clang of shipwrights’ and engineers’ hammers, groans and creaking, the plash of oars, and a whole symphony of sound echoing across the water. And beyond, on Plumstead Marshes, heavy guns booming on the practice range. It is easy to imagine her sitting on deck writing descriptions in real time.

There were quieter moments too. Marion describes an afternoon moored off Greenwich where her husband is working and the family are spread about “sitting comfortably on deck, each one at his own or her own pursuit.” She conjures up the scene so well. There “are Corbett’s sheds, with boats of all kinds on hire, from which a waterman has pushed off with a baby girl dressed in pink flannelette gravely sitting in the stern hugging a doll.” Turning, she sees “a grubby-looking old man with an ancient boat with a great part of her bulwarks torn away, and he has to put a list on her to keep the wounded side out of the water. […] Three or four small boys rush down to the shed to meet him; they jump on board with a fine model yacht, which, when put in the water, sails off a a great rate.”

Just as Wyllie was interested in recording the industrial stretches of the Thames, his wife took the trouble to explain some of the structures. Atlas No 3 in the painting above was a floating pontoon with ten or twelve cranes on board whose hydraulic arms dropped ‘giant claws’ into the holds of the colliers, grabbing the coal and swinging it round to let it fall into the barges on the other side. Tugs would then tow them on to their destinations, providing fuel for London’s industries and homes.

The busy scene of Castle’s ship-breaking wharf not only caught Wyllie’s attention but his wife’s as well. She was particularly struck by the breaking up of The Duke of Wellington, Admiral Sir Charles Napier’s famous flagship. She writes: “She is here – a mere husk of a ship. The graceful sheer of her line of ports has drooped away; and her bow, from which the figure-head has been cut, grins noseless like a skull. All round the poop her ribs stand naked to the sky…”

Marion also records the variety of smells on this stretch of the river including: the pungent odour of the chemical works “catching you in the throat”; Peruvian guano; Dundee marmalade; and “the great gasworks on Lea Ness pouring out a savour all of its own”. As they anchor on ‘Bugsby’s Reach’ among a large group of coal barges from where Wyllie can draw a view that has caught his attention, the air is thick with coal dust. But Marion doesn’t mind: “It will wash off”. However she is less enamoured of the stink emanating from a number of industries “that make dreadful smells” particularly of “some tall chimney-shafts. Even at three miles away the sickening reek makes you feel bad.” And then there were regular releases of noxious untreated sewage into the river. On the night of September 3rd, 1878 this pollution added a tragic dimension to the collision between pleasure boat SS Princess Alice and collier Bywell Castle in Gallions Reach, for not only were some of the 640 victims drowned at the time, many died later from infections picked up from the contamination of the water.

Marion was a keen observer of all aspects of life along the Thames. She records much of its history, its architecture, and details of surrounding towns and villages. Yet, even if most of it has been swallowed up or smoothed down by time, there is still enough in her observations to strike a chord with those who know the river well.

Further Information
White Dog Gallery where you can discover some of Wyllie’s work for sale.
W.L. and Mrs Wyllie: London to the Nore

A look back to early 20th-century images of theThames in the company of W. L. and Mrs Wyllie through their book London to the Nore, published in 1905.
William Wyllie was a well-known and distinguished marine artist who lived from 1851 to 1931. Born in Camden, London, son of artist William Morrison Wyllie, his talent was recognised when young, winning the Turner Gold Medal when he was only eighteen. In 1889 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy. An enthusiastic sailing fan from his early youth, he was drawn to maritime subjects, painting and etching all kinds of boats from large naval vessels to fishing and sailing boats, which he was said to have executed in accurate detail. However, The Royal Naval Museum notes that: “It was his etchings and watercolours showing working life on the Thames and the Medway that brought him widespread popularity.” And reading this beautifully illustrated book you can see why.

The text written by Mrs. Marion Wyllie, describes sailing and being towed up the river to their starting point at Westminster for the journey back downstream to the Nore. Marion Wyllie’s engaging style with its blend of history, knowledge of the river and boats, and details of family life aboard bring readers close to their experience.

An example of this might have some resonance today… One evening, after an outing ashore where she came across a thieves’ lodging house, which was still occupying her thoughts, she “became aware of a slight sound on the other side of our hull.” Her husband was asleep, and her sons busy talking had evidently heard nothing, she writes, “So I get up without noise and cross the deck, kneeling by the bulwarks and peeping over. The water is in deep shadow under our side, and at first I can see nothing; then I am sure I hear a whisper, and see something dark that I make out to be a boat close to our lee-board.” She wakes her husband who calls out “Hullo! What are you doing there? A very respectful voice answers ‘We are the water-police, sir, on the lookout for some men who have been stealing coal from this tier. I hope you don’t mind us holding on, as this bit of shadow is an advantage to us. Some of us will be here all night: so you will be all right.’ She adds that “with a great sense of security” everyone returned to their cabins.

For around twenty years from the early 1870s, Wyllie was a regular contributor to the weekly illustrated magazine The Graphic, for which he drew black and white illustrations of all things maritime. He spent time at sea working for the White Star shipping line and served with the Royal Navy during the First World war spending a month on H.M.S. Revenge at the time of the Armistice in 1919.

But it was, as mentioned above, his series of etchings of the Port of London, its commercial and industrial life and the movements and variety of shipping, that really brought him to the attention of a wider and appreciative public.

Wyllie moved to Portsmouth in 1906 and became closely involved with the restoration of H.M.S. VICTORY, organising campaigns to raise the funds to move her into dry dock and overseeing the work on her preservation. He died in 1931 and was laid to rest with full naval honours at Portchester Castle.

William Wyllie had lived life to the full. In the foreword to W. L. Wyllie: marine artist: 1851-1931, published in 1981, Sir Hugh Casson wrote of Wyllie’s love of boats. “He designed them, cared for them sailed them and above all he never ceased to draw and paint them in every size and shape and in all weathers.” He adds that Wyllie drew them “accurately, affectionately and above all with deep practical understanding.”

In articles that follow their journey from Tower Bridge, I will post further images and occasional anecdotes from Marion Wyllie’s account of their journey from Westminster to the Nore.

Sources and further information
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The National Museum of the Royal Navy
We Were One, 1935, a biography of W.L. Wyllie by his wife M.A. Wyllie
W.L. Wyllie: marine artist, 1981 by R. Quarm and J. Wyllie