LIFEBOAT MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

Twenty-five years' service: Commander Bruce Cairns, RD, RNR, retired as chief of operations at the end of 1986. He joined the lifeboat service as a district inspector of lifeboats in 1961 and served in the Irish, South East and Southern... - View image in PDF

Grace Darling was the last of the 21 Liverpool class lifeboats to be built and spent almost half her service life at North Sunderland and at Youghal in Ireland. Her coxswain at North Sunderland was awarded a Bronze... - View image in PDF

10 May: Aberdeen and Peterhead's all-weather lifeboats were called upon when a helicopter carrying oil rig workers crashed into the North Sea. All 14 of the helicopter's passengers and crew made it to the liferafts. Aberdeen lifeboat...

Beeching's medal At the Great Exhibition of 1851, one James Beeching was awarded the prize bronze medal for a self righting lifeboat.

It is thought this boat was the best if not the first self righting lifeboat to be...

Facts and Figures Provisional statistics as at 5 March 1996 show that during 1995: The RNLI's lifeboats were launched 7,312 times (an average of more than 20 launches a day) 1,632 lives were saved (an average of more than 4 a day) Some 3...

This year saw the 70th anniversary of the mass evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk during the Second World War. On 30 May 1940, the RNLI received a call from the UK Ministry of Shipping, asking for as many lifeboats as possible to be...

Each year's Annual Presentation of Awards provides an opportunity for an informal discussion on some of the medal services, the lifeboats involved and other aspects of lifeboat work. The day after the presentation of the medals in London...

Facts and figures Provisional statistics as at 16 November 1989, show that during 1989: The RNLI's lifeboats were launched 3,695 times (an average of more than 12 launches a day) More than 1,257 lives were saved (an average of 4 people...