Welcome to Baltimore in West Cork, Ireland, gateway to the Carberys 100 Isles! The Baltimore Lifeboat station is located at Bull point and is home to the Hilda Jarrett, a Tyne class all-weather lifeboat and Bessie an Atlantic 75 B class inshore lifeboat.

The Lifeboat is part of the RNLI. The Royal National Lifeboat Institute is a charity that saves lives at sea. There are 233 Lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland, 55 of which are based on the island of Ireland.

The RNLI provides on call, 24 hour lifeboat service to cover search and rescue up to 100 nautical miles off the coast of Ireland. The crews are made up of volunteers from all walks of life that give up their time and comfort to carry out rescues and train for them, in difficult and often dangerous conditions.

The Baltimore Station, provides a service in the waters between Galley Head and Mizen Head, encompassing the Island communities of Cape Clear, Sherkin, Heir and Long Islands and the well known and loved Fastnet Lighthouse. Search and rescue operations are directed through the Irish Coast Guard service. They are often carried out with the support of the Coast Guard Sikorski helicopters based at Shannon & Waterford, Cliff Rescue based in Toe Head, Glandore and Goleen and adjacent RNLI Lifeboat Stations at Courtmacsherry and Castletownbere.

In 2007 the lifeboat was tasked on 11 occasions to provide an emergency repsonse, saving the lives of 5 individuals. During 2006 Hilda Jarrett was launched 28 times and rescued a total of 29 people, significantly more than in 2005 when the lifeboat was launched 17 times and rescued 13 people. Please see the Shouts section for updates on our most recent calls.

The Lifeboat also played a valiant role in the Fastnet Yacht Race Disaster in 1979.