Swanage RNLI lifeboat station sees final launch

The all-weather Mersey class lifeboats are being replaced with a bigger version in 2016

An 140-year-old RNLI boathouse has seen its last ever lifeboat launch before being demolished.

The all-weather Mersey class lifeboat named Robert Charles Brown slid down the slipway at Swanage for the final time earlier.

The boat, along with the inshore craft and boarding boat, will be housed in a new £3.5m boathouse from next Sunday.

A new site was required to accommodate a bigger lifeboat due to enter service in 2016.

The lifeboat named Robert Charles Brown slid down the slipway for the final time

The boathouse at Swanage was built in 1875

The 25-knot, all-weather, Shannon-class lifeboat will be faster and easier to manoeuvre due to its design and water jet propulsion technology.

The new station will also include a changing and shower room, training room, mechanics workshop, office space and a souvenir stall.