Caister Lifeboat Station is located in the village and seaside resort of Caister-on-Sea, on the east coast of the county of Norfolk.

[1] In the late 1700s, a group of men, mainly fishermen, formed the "Caister Company of Beachmen", in order to find extra employment offering additional boat services, ferrying passengers and pilots, retrieving discarded anchors to re-sell, and in times of shipwreck, to rescue people, and more importantly, salvage boats and cargo.

The boat was transferred from its previous service at Bacton Lifeboat Station in Norfolk, but on arrival, it was found to be in very poor condition.

A store and lookout were constructed at the end of Beach Road with the permission of the Lord of the manor, Thomas Clowes.

[1] In 1875, Caister No.2 boat Boys would be renamed Godsend, following a donation by Lady Jane Barbara Bourchier (1810–1884) of Hampton Court Palace.

[1] Covent Garden was launched on 25 March 1879 to the aid of the brig Cato, wrecked on Haisborough Sands whilst on passage from Arendal to Calais.

[2] Launching just after 4:00am on 8 November 1899, Caister No.2 lifeboat Beauchamp (ON 327) would save the lives of eight men from the lugger Palestine, stranded on Cockle Sand.

Setting anchor and veering down, the lifeboat was washed on top of the partly sunken vessel, causing considerable damage to her bow.

With waves crashing over both boats, the master and a boy from the vessel had a lucky escape, being pulled from the water, after having jumped and missed the lifeboat.

[8] Launched on 29 January 1919 to the aid of the barquentine Nimrod, aground on Barber Sands, Coxswain John Haylett of the Covent Garden (ON 431) was injured, and died some weeks later.

[1] Caister held the record for the most lives saved by any lifeboat station in the British Isles, and there was a public outcry.

Believed to have been washed away in a storm, it was identical to a box that had only recently been restored, which once stood in the Caister graveyard next to the Beauchamp Memorial.

Most of the launchers headed home for dry clothing, but 78-year-old James Haylett Snr, former Asst.Coxswain stayed on watch, having two sons, two grandsons, and a son-in-law on board.

A memorial was erected in Caister cemetery, and a new stained glass window in the parish church was dedicated to the disaster.