1989
Following the Marchioness tragedy, the Thames Safety Inquiry conducted by Lord Justice Clarke recommended, amongst other things, a dedicated search and rescue service on the tidal reaches of the River Thames.
2nd January 2002
The RNLI was invited to provide this facility and four new lifeboat stations were opened. Three, at Chiswick, Tower Pier and Gravesend, are manned 24 hours a day, using a mix of full-time and volunteer crew, whilst the fourth, at Teddington, has a volunteer crew summoned by pagers.
5th June 2007
Initially, Gravesend was based in porta-cabins in the car park of the Port of London Authority, Gravesend at Royal Terrace Pier. We moved into our new station at the end of Royal Terrace Pier. As the new station is only yards away from where the lifeboats are moored, this has greatly reduced the time it takes to launch to an incident.