#Lifeboats - Skycam Ireland has released some breathtaking drone video from the arrival of the relief Shannon class lifeboat Jock and Annie Slater in Wicklow on Sunday afternoon (24 February) after travelling from RNLI headquarters in Poole, Dorset.
A large turnout of family, friends and supporters gathered as the Wicklow all-weather lifeboat Annie Blaker and the inshore lifeboat escorted the relief Shannon into the harbour, while a lone piper on the East Pier played a musical tribute to signal the arrival.
Staff Coxswain Pete Hanscombe accompanied the crew on the training passage, but Coxswain Nick Keogh had the honour of bringing the relief Shannon into Wicklow harbour. A short impressive display of the boats speed and agility was greeted with applause from the crowd, before it came alongside the pier.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the relief Shannon class will replace the last remaining Tyne class lifeboat in active service — and the busiest in the history of Wicklow RNLI — when it is retired in the next few months.