Name James and Mariska Joicey

JAMES AND MARISKA JOICEY, an ex RNLI Solent Class Lifeboat, was built in 1969 by Groves & Gutteridge, Cowes, Isle of Wight. The second of a class of eleven built, nine in Mk1 form which were followed by three Mk2 variants which had a revised wheelhouse and fenestration layout. 

She operated initially in NE Scotland as the RNLI Peterhead lifeboat, 1969-86, and after a refit in late 1986 moved to Cornwall as the RNLI Lizard lifeboat between 1987-88 and then in the RNLI relief lifeboat fleet 1989-90, including a spell at Walton & Frinton RNLI station, Essex.  During her service with the RNLI she was launched 173 times on service and saved a total of 41 lives.  Sold out of service by the RNLI into private use via tender in 1990, initially going to Southampton where she acted as press & support vessel for the newly re-commissioned SS Shieldhall. 

The next phase was a relocation to Dartmouth under the new name MIRAGE OF DART.  Following her time at Dartmouth, JAMES AND MARISKA JOICEY, along with her sister Solent Class Lifeboat, Royal British Legion Jubilee fell into the ownership of smugglers and was modified with extra fuel capacity for long distance clandestine voyages before being intercepted and impounded by UK Customs on the Thames in London. Exact dates for this are being researched and any additional information for our archives would be gratefully received.

Subsequently she was sold via auction to a private owner who in turn sold her to a religious group in the late 1990s.  They sailed her via the Channel Islands up to the inland loughs by Mulroy Bay in County Donegal, Eire.  A conversion was started but abandoned after a couple of years when she dragged her anchor during a storm surge and was left marooned on the shoreline in around 2001. She remained under the same ownership, but work was halted and the boat was in a semi-vandalised state when acquired by the present owners in December 2013.

JAMES AND MARISKA JOICEY was taken ashore in July 2015 and, following an extensive indoor restoration, was relaunched in September 2019.  Due to COVID restrictions, she was left secured at Coleraine Harbour.  Her refit and survey were completed in August 2021 after which she undertook a passage down the East Coast of Ireland, across to Milford Haven, then onto Padstow, Newlyn and onto her permanent mooring near Falmouth in September 2021.

James And Mariska Joicey attended the Fowey Harbour historic lifeboat gathering and Falmouth Tall Ships events during August 2023, where she and other historic lifeboats were open to visitors, proving very popular, one visitor being the great great nephew of James Joicey, whose legacy via his wife Mariska Joicey, paid for the construction of J&MJ in 1968-9, a delightful in person connection to the boat's history! (Photograph of J&MJ passing Fraggle Rock under passage from Fowey to Falmouth, on August 13th 2023 kindly c/o Nick Leach) She will attend other maritime festivals and events promoting the historic and current activities of the RNLI, including the 200th Anniversary celebrations in 2024.