The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has had a “significant” boost in donations since becoming a target of far-right agitators protesting over small boat crossings.
The charity’s staff and volunteers have been subjected to “online and physical abuse” after involvement in a rescue on Sunday in which a dingy carrying asylum seekers was brought into Portsmouth.
RNLI vice-president, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, condemned the intimidation as “frankly quite disgraceful,” amid calls by far-right protesters for people to stop donating.
An RNLI spokesperson said: ‘We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of donations we have received this week, and we’ve welcomed a number of new supporters to our charity.
“As always, we’re so grateful for the support we receive from our amazing supporters, without them we would not be able to deliver our vital lifesaving service.
“Sadly, we have also been contacted by a number of supporters and members of the public who have informed us that they wish to withdraw their support in recent days.
“Everyone at the RNLI remains focused on our core purpose of saving lives at sea.”
The charity has increased security measures and said it will continue to rescue those in danger in the Channel.
After lifeboats took 120 asylum seekers intercepted off the Isle of Wight to Eastney in Langstone Harbour on Sunday, some crew members were targeted by protesters, with their photos and names shared in posts on social media.
On Wednesday evening, dozens of Dorset police officers were posted outside the charity’s headquarters in Poole as about 50 people gathered to protest against the RNLI’s involvement.
Hampshire police have been patrolling RNLI sites, while the Sussex force was investigating “offensive and threatening” remarks made on social media.
On Friday, Poole Old Lifeboat Museum said it had made the decision to close after several incidents of “protesters verbally assaulting our volunteers”, the BBC reported.
Knox-Johnston said of the charity being targeted: “Like many supporters of the RNLI, I am very angry about it because they are picking on the wrong people.
“These are volunteers who risk their lives to go out and save anyone at sea” Knox-Johnson, the first solo sailor to circumnavigate the world non-stop, told BBC Radio Solent.
“What people don’t seem to understand is the RNLI don’t go out looking for people – they only go out when specifically asked by the coastguard, whose job is safety of life at sea – regardless of nationality.
“They are doing their job, they are saying there are people whose lives are in danger – RNLI please can you send a boat and remove the risk.
“If you want this to stop the government have got to stop it, but picking on RNLI crews who are doing the job they are trained to do is frankly quite disgraceful.”
The RNLI has advised volunteers that they should consider not wearing RNLI branded clothing if they feel this might put them at risk. They have also been advised that they should feel empowered to close RNLI shops or lifeboat stations if they feel in danger.
Volunteers have been asked to challenge people near lifeboat stations if they do not have ID, but advised not to engage with members of the public and asked to explain the RNLI’s actions.
The charity emphasised earlier this week that responding to small boats was only a tiny percentage of its work and updated its webpage explaining its work in the Channel. It described rumours that the RNLI housed asylum seekers on its premises, or that there were RNLI missions to move migrants to secret locations as “completely baseless and untrue”.
RNLI lifeboats launched 9,058 times in 2025 but only 109 of those call-outs were to small boats in the Channel, representing 1.2% of its rescue work. Almost 95% of those who crossed the Channel in small boats last year were picked up by the UK Border Force, it said.
