Seaham's first lifeboat was provided by Lord Londonderry in 1854/55, possibly earlier, no records of this boat survive.
The "Friend Of All Nations", Seaham's second boat was bought by public subscription some time after 1855, built by a Mr Hawkesworth of Torquay she was self-righting and probably 40 feet long. Kept in a boathouse at the southern end of the Terrace Beach she proved difficult to launch across the beach and by 1870 was replaced by the "Sisters Carter of Harrogate" in 1870.
The photograph shows the boathouse in the right foreground, in the 1870s it became a tea shop and was demolished in 1899.
