Salcombe residents gathered in crowds on Monday morning to welcome the town's new £2.6m RNLI lifeboat.

The 16m Tamar-class all-weather vessel, the Baltic Exchange III, has arrived in port following a week of sea trials with members of the Salcombe crew onboard.

It is replacing the town's Tyne-class lifeboat which has served the harbour for more than 20 years.

The vessel has a top speed of 25 knots and boasts new safety features including an advanced seat design to reduce stress on the backs of the volunteer crew members when they are at sea.

It is hoped that the new lifeboat will go on service in Salcombe in the middle of March.

Peter Hodges, RNLI lifeboat operations manager at Salcombe: "It is particular rewarding to see our new lifeboat arrive as we have been saving money for her, with wonderful local support, since early 1998 and have raised over a million pounds."

More than £500,000 of the money for the Baltic Exchange III came from the exchange itself.

Captain Peter Hodges, RNLI lifeboat operations manager at Salcombe, says the new lifeboat represents a huge investment in the life saving work of the RNLI in the town.

He said: "It is particular rewarding to see our new lifeboat arrive as we have been saving money for her, with wonderful local support, since early 1998 and have raised over a million pounds.

"Our close relationship with the Baltic Exchange in London has also been of great importance with them giving more than half a million pounds towards the Tamar.

"This will be the third all weather lifeboat to bear the name of the Baltic Exchange. We can now look forward to the naming ceremony for the new lifeboat on Saturday 17 May."

Marco Brimacombe, RNLI coxswain at Salcombe, said volunteer crew members were delighted to see the boat arrive.

"We've had a tough week training at sea and even though the training will now continue before the lifeboat becomes operational, we are delighted to have her in the harbour," he said.

"It's the start of a new era in life saving for Salcombe RNLI and we are all very much looking forward to the future."

The Baltic Exchange III, which is 16m long, 5m wide and weighs nearly 32 tonnes, was fitted out by Babcock Thorne at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth.