A class Lifeboats

The A class inshore lifeboats saw service at various stations around the British Isles, including a good number on the south coast. This volume records the design, development and service history of these unusual boats, which comprised four different types: Hatch, McLachlan, Dell Quay Dory and Boston Whaler.

The development of rigid-hulled inshore lifeboats represented an unusual departure in British lifeboat design, at a time when the RNLI was experimenting with ideas about what would be the most suitable rescue platform. Of the four types, the most numerous was the McLachlan, of which ten examples were built. Technical and services details, as well as photographs of all the individual boats, are included.

Author Nicholas Leach has thoroughly researched the history of the A class inshore lifeboats to produce this authoritative book, which is the seventh volume in the Lifeboat Design and Development series.