BON ACCORD RNLB lifeboat

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

BON ACCORD RNLB lifeboat

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun May 01, 2016 11:27 pm

This stamp comes from a sheet showing rescue vessels issued in the name of the Solomon Islands. As soon as I saw the building in the background I thought that this was in Aberdeen and a recent visit to the city in April 2016 confirmed it.
I am now going to make an assumption, as no serial number is shown on the stamp, that the vessel shown on the stamp is the RNLB BON ACCORD which is the Severn Class lifeboat based at Aberdeen. Every so often the lifeboat goes off for a service/refit in another port and is replaced by a boat of the same class from the RNLI relief fleet. However, this does not happen very often which makes me believe that the lifeboat shown is RNLB BON ACCORD – 17-24.
RNLB BON ACCORD was built in 2000 by Green Marine/Berthon at Lymington on the south coast of England. She has the RNLI serial number 1248 and has been based at Aberdeen since July 2000. RNLB BON ACCORD is powered by two 27 litre twin turbo intercooled Caterpiller 3412 DITA engines which deliver 1250hp each at 2300rpm. She carries 1200 gallons of diesel in her bunkers and burns, at full speed, 2 gallons of diesel per minute. She has a range of 250nm at full speed. Aberdeen Lifeboat carries a crew of 6 and, if required, a doctor. She is moored afloat, as all Severn Class Lifeboats are.

RNLB BON ACCORD is the third lifeboat to be stationed at Aberdeen, bearing the Bon Accord name. The previous two Bon Accords were built in 1853 and 1875 and stationed at Footdee and the harbour as the Beach and Harbour Lifeboats until 1924.

The name Bon Accord comes from the motto of the City of Aberdeen’s Coat of Arms. The phrase was used in the 14th century as a password by King Robert the Bruce as he and his men laid siege to Aberdeen Castle and killed the English Garrison, retaking Aberdeen for the townspeople.

Whilst in Aberdeen I was lucky enough to see BON ACCORD sailing into Aberdeen Bay on a training exercise on 18/4/2016 and was almost able to duplicate the shot shown on the stamp except my photo was taken from a road overlooking the River Dee while the shot on the stamp appears to have been taken from the river bank. The oil rig vessel FAR SCOTSMAN almost ruined the shot !

Solomon Islands 2014 $5.00 sg?, scott?

Sources: http://aberdeen-lifeboat.org.uk/lifeboats/. The Lifeboat Service in Scotland, Station by Station by Nicolas Leach. Lifeboat Directory, A Complete Guide to British Lifeboats by Nicholas Leach and Tony Denton (lists all current lifeboats, those that have been sold on to other lifeboat agencies in other countries and many of the older lifeboats that have been sold in to private hands or preserved. An excellent reference work; PCC).

Peter Crichton.
Attachments
RNLB+BON+ACCORD++18-4-2016.jpg
RNLB+BON+ACCORD1.jpg

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