Full hull design model of a self-righting lifeboat (1861), with launching carriage, built at a scale of 1:16. The port and starboard bows are inscribed, ‘National Lifeboat Institution supported by voluntary contribution’.

This is the standard pulling and sailing lifeboat, as adopted by the RNLI during the second half of the 19th century. Transported on a horse-drawn carriage, it took a large number of helpers on shore to launch the lifeboat into the surf. Depending upon the physiology (geography) of the coast, lifeboats of this type were also launched down a slipway from a boathouse or kept afloat on a permanent mooring in the shelter of a harbour. This class of lifeboat became the backbone of the fleet up until the introduction of inboard motors in 1919.