The 'Royal National Lifeboat Institution' ('RNLI') is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of
Great Britain and
Ireland. It was founded on
4 March 1824 as the ''National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck'', adopting the present name in
1854.
There are over 230 lifeboat stations strategically placed around the coast of the
United Kingdom and
Republic of Ireland together with RNLI Lifeguard units in the South, South West and East coast of the UK.
Lifeboat rescues have doubled since
1980 and the RNLI rescues an average of 22 people every day of the year.
With respect to fundraising, the RNLI still relies on voluntary donations and
legacies to raise the £130M each year it costs to run the service. Six out of every ten lifeboat launches are thanks to legacies, which still play a vital role in RNLI fundraising.
Originally many of the lifeboat crews came from maritime backgrounds, but with the decline of many maritime inductries like fishing only one in ten volunteers come from a professional maritime background. Instead volunteer crews are more likely to be teachers or shop keepers rather than fishermen.
2006 was the RNLI's busiest year on record.
The founder, Sir William Hillary
Sir
William Hillary came to live on the
Isle of Man in 1808. He soon became aware of the treacherous nature of the
Irish Sea, with many ships being wrecked around the Manx coast. He drew up plans for a national lifeboat service manned by trained crews. Initially he received little response from the
Admiralty but on appealing to the more philanthropic members of London society, the plans were enthusiastically adopted and the ''National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck'' was founded in 1824. The title changed 30 years later to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the first of the new lifeboats to be built was stationed at
Douglas in recognition of the work of Sir William.
At the age of 60, Sir William took part in the rescue, in 1830, of the packet ''St George'', which had foundered on Conister Rock at the entrance to Douglas harbour. He commanded the lifeboat, was washed overboard with others of the lifeboat crew, yet finally everyone aboard the ''St George'' was rescued with no loss of life.
It was this incident which prompted Sir William to set up a scheme to build
The Tower of Refuge on Conister Rock - a project completed in 1832 which stands to this day at the entrance to Douglas harbour.
[1][2]
The RNLI in action
Since the RNLI was founded, its
lifeboats have saved over 137,000 lives (as of November 2006).
[3]
The RNLI operates five classes of inshore lifeboats, both
inflatable boats and
RIBs, of 20-40
knots (37-74 km/h), and six classes of all-weather
motor life boats with maximum speeds of 16-25 knots (30-46 km/h). It maintains an active fleet of 332
lifeboats based at 233 lifeboat stations. It also has an active fleet of four
hovercraft introduced in 2002 allowing rescue in mud flats and river estuaries inaccessible to conventional boats. The crews of the lifeboats are almost entirely
volunteers, the 4,600 sea-going crew members, including over 300 women are alerted by
pagers backed up by maroons and attend the lifeboat station when alerted.
The Humber lifeboat station at
Spurn Point,
East Riding of Yorkshire is one of only two lifeboat stations in the UK which are crewed full time (the other being
Waterloo Pier, on the River Thames in London). The crew live in a few houses on Spurn Point which in bad weather can be cut off from the mainland. The other occupants of Spurn Point are Associated British Ports who man their
Vessel Traffic Service control tower 24 hours a day 365 days a year along with the lifeboat crew.
In the
United Kingdom, ships in distress or the public reporting an accident must contact
HM Coastguard on
MF radio (frequency
2182 kHz),
VHF radio (Channel 16) or by telephoning 999 or 112. In the
Republic of Ireland they must contact the
Irish Coast Guard, or telephone 112 or
999. The Coastguard co-ordinates rescue at sea and may call on the RNLI (or other lifeboats) or their own land-based rescue personnel or rescue helicopters to take part. Air-Sea rescue
helicopters are provided by the
Royal Air Force, the
Royal Navy, the Marine & Coastguard Agency (HM Coastguard), and the
Irish Air Corps.
Classes of lifeboats in service
''Main category: .''
The RNLI has two main categories of lifeboat:
★ All weather boats - Large boats that are capable of high speed in extreme weather conditions and have a large range.
★ Inshore lifeboats - Smaller boats that operate closer to the shore than all weather boats and are able to operate in shallower waters and closer to cliffs.
Biggest RNLI rescue
The biggest rescue in the RNLI's history was
17 March 1907 when the 12,000 tonne liner
SS ''Suevic'' hit the Maenheere Reef near
Lizard Point in
Cornwall. In a strong gale and dense fog RNLI lifeboat volunteers rescued 456 passengers, including 70 babies. Crews from
The Lizard,
Cadgwith,
Coverack and
Porthleven rowed out repeatedly for 16 hours to rescue all of the people on board. Six silver RNLI medals were later awarded, two to ''Suevic'' crew members.
[4]
Lifeboat losses
Over the years, many members of boat and launching crews have been killed during or died as a result of lifeboat operations.
★ 1880 - The
Wells-next-the-Sea lifeboat ''Eliza Adams'' went to the aid of the stricken
brig ''Ocean Queen'' in heavy seas. The lifeboat capsized and 11 of her 13 crew were drowned. (See
Wells lifeboat disaster).
★ 1886 -
St Anne's, Lytham and
Southport lifeboats went to the assistance of a German barque, the ''Mexico'' in trouble in heavy seas. The St Anne's and Southport boats were lost with 27 lifeboatmen. (See
Southport and St Anne's lifeboats disaster).
★ 1899 - In one of the RNLI's most legendary feats, the
Lynmouth lifeboat ''Louisa'' was hauled overland over Exmoor for over 10 hours to
Porlock to go to the aid of a ship. On arrival she was launched immediately and stood by the stricken ship until daybreak, when a
tug arrived.
★ 1914 - Nine members of the crew of the
Fethard lifeboat crew were drowned when their boat capsized. They were attempting to reach the stricken steamer "Mexico" which was going down off the
Co Wexford coast.
★ 1928 - The
Rye Harbour lifeboat disaster, in which the ''
Mary Stanford'' was capsized and 17 men lost their lives.
★ 1947 - 8 crew of the
Mumbles lifeboat died attempting to rescue the crew of
SS ''Samtampa'' off south Wales, on
23 April 1947. A total of 45 lives were lost.
★ 1959 - All 8 crew of the Broughty Ferry lifeboat died while attempting to rescue the North Carr
lightship
★ 1962 - After rescuing the five crew members of the
Coble ''Economy'' on the
17 November, the
Seaham lifeboat capsized on its way back to the shore. All five lifeboat crewmen died, only one crewman from the Economy survived.
★ 1981 - The
Penlee lifeboat ''Solomon Browne'' was lost, with all 8 crew, going to the aid of the freighter ''Union Star''. A total of 16 lives were lost - there were no survivors and only 8 bodies were recovered. (See
Penlee lifeboat disaster).
Roll of Honour
Lifeboat crewmen have sometimes been awarded medals for their bravery. One of the most notable is
Henry Blogg, of the
Cromer lifeboat crew, who was awarded the
RNLI gold medal three times. He also received the
George Cross and the
British Empire Medal. He is known as "The Greatest of all Lifeboatmen"
Headquarters
The headquarters of the RNLI are in
Poole,
Dorset. The RNLI site is located adjacent to the Holes Bay in
Poole Harbour. It includes RNLI HQ, lifeboat maintenance and repair facilities, the Lifeboat Support Center and the national training centre, The Lifeboat College. The support center and college were opened by
Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.
[5] Specialist training facilities include a
wave and capsize pool, a
fire simulator, a bridge simulator and a live
engineering workshop.
[6]
See also
★
★
List of RNLI stations
★
Historic RNLI Lifeboats
★
Chatham Historic Dockyard — the home of ''Lifeboat'' a museum of the RNLI with seventeen historic vessels.
★
Imperial War Museum Duxford - site of an historic lifeboat.
★
Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij - The Dutch equivalent of the RNLI
★
Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer - The French equivalent of the RNLI (But not entirely supported by voluntary contributions)
★
Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger - The German equivalent of the RNLI
★
Redningsselskapet - The Norwegain equivalent of the RNLI
★
Severn Area Rescue Association - Provides inshore Rescue Boat services for the River Severn Estuary
★
Mercia Inshore Search and Rescue - based at
Upton-upon-Severn
Famous lifeboat-saviours
★
Henry Freeman of Whitby, coxwain for 22 years
★
Dorus Rijkers, Dutch lifeboatman of over 30 years service
★
Grace Darling, daughter of lighthouse keeper, rescued survivors with a rowing boat
★
Henry Blogg, coxwain of
Cromer for 37 years, retired at age of 71
Gallery
References
1. http://www.isle-of-man.com/information/thetowerofrefuge.shtml/.
2. Source: Visit Isle of Man.
3. RNLI Official Website
4. BBC news - Biggest RNLI rescue is remembered
5. Royal Opening for RNLI, BBC News, 2004
6. RNLI Lifeboat College, Poole
External links
★
Official website
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