RNLB Julia Park Barry of Glasgow (ON 819)

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RNLB Julia Park Barry of Glasgow (ON 819) was a Watson-class lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. It served at Peterhead, Scotland, from 15 June 1939 to 14 January 1969. Its sea trials were held at Holy Loch, and it then travelled from the Clyde to Peterhead via the Forth and Clyde Canal. The 46-foot boat weighed about 20.5 tons and was powered by twin diesel engines, giving a top speed of around 9 knots. It could carry eight crew plus up to 95 passengers in rough seas, and had nine watertight compartments, electric lighting, a searchlight and a line-throwing gun. Over nearly 30 years it saved 496 lives; in March 1942 it rescued 106 people over 75 hours, earning Coxswain John B McLean the RNLI Gold Medal, the first awarded in Scotland in 104 years. After retirement, Sir Lewis Ritchie bought the boat to use as an exhibition piece in Peterhead. It was stored, moved to Admiralty Gateway (Peterhead Prison Museum) in May 2015, and fully restored in 2018. It now sits at the heart of the Julia Park Barry Building, a museum about the lifeboat and Peterhead’s maritime history, officially opened by Sir Lewis Ritchie on 28 June 2019.