The station was opened on 18^th November 1884 and the lifeboat’s first call cam eon that same evening when she was launched to investigate flares seen near the Sunk Lightvessel, 12 miles offshore. The Honourable Artillery Company was kept in a new boathouse built next to the coastguard station at East Terrace at a cost of £487 with a slipway and track to the beach costing another £57. The lifeboat was down this slipway at high water and pulled across the beach at low tide.

Her most notable rescues were that of 25 men from the German barque Deike Rickmers on Christmas Day 1884 and of 14 men from the barque Elphinstone of Christiania.

The Deike Rickmers was wrecked on the Long Sand Head, the lifeboat rescuing her crew and one large dog, returning to Walton at 7.pm on Boxing Day. This was only the second launch of the lifeboat since the opening of the station on 18^th November 1884.

The Elphinstone was wrecked in a severe north east gale on the East Barrow Sands on 20^th November 1893. The actual launch of the lifeboat off the beach at 11.02am was described as the most exciting yet seen at Walton. When the wreck was reached it was first thought that all the crew had been drowned, there being no sign of life on board. After several attempts to get alongside the coxswain anchored and veered down through the heavy breaking seas and managed to get close to the vessel. As he did so a man appeared from the deck house at the stern, to be followed quickly by 13 others. They were all taken on board the lifeboat, which unable to return home against the wind made for Sheerness where the survivors were landed at 7.30pm.

This was a radically different class of lifeboat to its predecessor, being a large and powerful sailing lifeboat with shallow draft (less than 3ft) and water ballast. She had a large dipping lugsail and standing mizzen. The decision was made to put her afloat on the south side of the pier and for her to be reached by boarding boat. This move occurred as a direct result of the competition provided by the private lifeboat True to the Core, which was moored on the north side of the pier. (See True to the Core)

In 1905 the RNLI Committee of Management decided to fit a 40 HP Blake petrol engine into this lifeboat after a successful experiment with a 10 HP engine fitted into the former Folkestone lifeboat

J McConnell Hussey. The James Stevens No. 14 was sent back to Thames Iron Works in August 1905 and together with two other lifeboats converted to motor power. She returned to Walton on 26^th October 1908 and after trials was placed on service on 10^th December. Technical details of her engine are given in the table below. The cost of the conversion was £575.

Her first launch under motor took place on 26^th January 1907, standing by the schooner Demaris aground on the Gunfleet. The motor proved very successful and increased the capabilities of the lifeboat. Her most famous rescue occurred on 29^th December 1917 when she saved 92 passengers and crew + two black cats from the steamer Peregrine aground on the Long Sand Head in an easterly gale and heavy sea. The James Stevens No. 14 was an excellent sea-boat and held in great affection by her crew. Unlike the Honourable Artillery Company which was broken up in 1900 the James Stevens No.14 has had a varied career since being replaced in 1928, being at different times a harbour launch, private yacht and house boat before being returned to Walton in May 1998 to be restored to sea-going condition by the Frinton & Walton Heritage Trust. (See links) She is now the world’s oldest surviving motor lifeboat.

48ft x 13ft Ramsgate Type built by J S White at Cowes IOW at a cost of £8700. 2 x 40 HP petrol engines. Arrived on station 5^th July 1928. This was one of only three lifeboats of the Ramsgate Type to be built, the others being stationed at Ramsgate and Southend. They combined the best qualities of the Norfolk and Suffolk and Watson classes for operation in the shoal waters of the Thames Estuary and Goodwin Sands.

Funded from legacies of: - Mr. Isaac Dewhurst of Elland, Miss Hannah Yates of Southport, Mr. Robert Barnes of London and Miss Jane Elizabeth Watkins of Ryde, Isle of Wight. The substantial cost of new motor lifeboats at this time often required amalgamation of more than one legacy, each donor’s initials being incorporated into the name of the boat.

Her most notable rescues were from the barges Esterel and Martha in 1939 and 1941, two naval fishing vessels in 1945and the barge Will Everard in 1947. She was one of the RNLI lifeboats that went to Dunkirk being manned by a naval crew. The officer in charge, Lt. R Mead being killed by a shell when from a German aircraft. She worked mainly in Dunkirk Harbour ferrying troops out to larger vessels.

When replaced the in 1953 the EMED served for two years in the relief fleet before being sold to the Chilean Lifeboat Society being stationed at Valparaiso. She remained in service as a lifeboat there for many years, unaltered except for new diesel engines.

Earl & Countess Howe ON968 1977-83

Service Record: Launches 64 Lives Saved: 21 

48ft 6inch Oakley Class, the first of her type, built by William Osborne of Littlehampton in 1963 at a cost of £40,000. She was previously station at Yarmouth IOW from 1993-76. Her most notable launches were to the dredger Bow Herald on 8^th April 1980 after a mine had exploded in the dredger’s pump room and to the Ro-Ro ferry European Gateway on 19^th December 1982 which sank after a collision off Harwich.

48ft 6inch Solent Class funded by the City of Birmingham Lifeboat Appeal and built by Camper & Nicholson, Portsmouth at a cost of £72000 in 1970. Stationed at Exmouth, South Devon 1970-1983. Took up station at Walton 15^th January 1984. This lifeboat experienced a very busy time at Walton. Many of its launches were to yachts and fishing vessels but perhaps its most notable launch was to the assistance of the ferry Speedlink Vanguard and the Radio Ship Ross Revenge (Radio Caroline) on 6^th January 1985 in storm force north easterly winds and heavy seas. The coxswain and crew were awarded framed letters of thanks from the RNLI. Her last launch at Walton was on 6^th July 1993 when she rescued 4 people from a capsized dinghy off Frinton. These were the last lives saved by a conventional 9-knot lifeboat.  

After being replaced by the Tyne Class lifeboat Sam and Joan Woods she was

sold to the Uruguay Lifeboat Society, operating at Puerto De Colonia on the Plate Estuary from March 1995.