A Brief History

Maritime search and rescue at Sumner dates back to the 1840s. Little Port Cooper Whaling Station on Banks Peninsula also had a lifeboat during its tenure. In 1867, Joseph Day was appointed signalman (and later pilot) at Sumner for The Lyttelton Harbour Board, which was then responsible for ships crossing the Sumner bar at the mouth of The Estuary.

In keeping with maritime tradition, Joseph Day used his pilot boat (and sometimes a volunteer crew) to save lives when the occasion arose. He is credited with personally saving 25 lives – including a crewmember that almost certainly would have died but for Day’s fearlessness when a lifeboat capsized crossing the bar in 1875.

In the 1890s, The Lyttelton Harbour Board recognised that maritime rescues would be an ongoing obligation, and, in 1898, imported a purpose-built lifeboat from England. Christened ‘Rescue’, this boat was originally berthed underneath Cave Rock and later on the end of the Sumner Pier, and crewed by volunteers from Sumner village, with Joseph Day in command.

Sumner Lifeboat dates its inception to the arrival of ‘Rescue’ in 1898 and celebrated its centenary in 1998. It’s widely accepted that Sumner Lifeboat is the oldest organised voluntary maritime search and rescue organisation in New Zealand.

In 1904, a new legal entity, Sumner Lifeboat Institution Inc, assumed responsibility from the Harbour Board for maritime rescues off Sumner. In due course, ‘Rescue’ became Sumner Lifeboat property and Joseph Day – still a signalman and pilot for The Lyttelton Harbour Board – now appointed Coxswain of the lifeboat, continued rescuing people off Sumner until his retirement in December 1912. He died four months later.

Since then, generations of Sumner Lifeboat members have followed Day’s pioneering example and saved lives off Sumner and Canterbury. While volunteerism remains Sumner Lifeboat’s essential credo, other values also echo through its history.

For example, Sumner Lifeboat acquired its first powerboat in 1930, its first jet boat in 1970, and is now working towards an all-jet fleet. Sumner Lifeboat obtained its first radio in 1958, its first radar in 1970, and its first satellite tracking system (GPS) in 2002. Adopting new technology once it is proven and economic is another proud Sumner Lifeboat tradition.

A third is crew safety. Sumner Lifeboat has never lost one of its own. Since 1898, Sumner Lifeboat has brought over 2000 people to safety, recovered property worth millions, and spent countless hours at sea. And crewmembers always went home again. Our goal is to keep it that way.