COWES-BUILT LIFEBOAT TO SET OFF ON 650-MILE FUND RAISING VOYAGE

Retired 1960s Lifeboat ‘AMiTy’ – which was built by J.S White in Cowes – will soon be setting off on a 650-mile round trip voyage along England’s South East Coast to London to help mark the RNLI’s 200th year of saving lives at sea. AMiTy aims to visit a grand total of 31 volunteer-run Lifeboat Stations across Hampshire, Dorset, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Kent and Southend in Essex on route, with the ambition of raising a £1000 for each. The AMiTy was built by J. Samuel White from Cowes and registered on  17/7/1962. This 47ft Watson Class became the station’s Lifeboat at Howth Ireland, named Named Austin Mulhauser Toon, A.M.T. . She retired from Howth on 29th August 1986 and became the relief lifeboat at various stations. Courtmacsherry Harbour, Galway Bay, Penlee, The Lizard, Appledore and finally Poole Depot. On 1st June 1989, A.M.T. was declared ‘non operational’ and was sold out of service to Graham Avery of Barnstaple, a retired bespoke cabinet fitter, in 1991. There she remained until being sold in 2004 to Christopher & Julie Warner, where she moved to new moorings at Watermouth Bay, North Devon. She changed hands again in 2015 into the custody of Elvin & Cindi Shawyer, where she returned home to the Solent & Portsmouth Harbour. During A.M.T.’s service, she gallantly launched 212 times during which she saved 87 lives. There were 197 launches and 83 lives saved at Howth, and 15 launches and 4 lives saved whilst in service as part of the relief fleet. She is now named ‘AMiTy’, in the spirit of friendship in which she was launched and seen by those she saved.