VERY CLOSE TO THE SEA are people of the Isle of Man. Set in the Irish Sea almost equidistant between England and Ireland, with Scotland to the north and Wales to the south, not only is the island itself dependent on sea trade but is lies close to busy lanes of passing coasters, ferries and foreign-going ships. Man's bays offer shelter from storm in the midst of a proverbially rough sea, but if the wind should go round, what was at first a safe haven can all too quickly become a dangerous lee shore. Manx people are, therefore, no strangers to disaster at sea and, through the years, have shown enormous courage and determination in therescue of shipwrecked sailors. Since RNLI records began more than 1,300 people have been saved from the seas around Man by lifeboat, and it is known that there were many earlier rescues.

Many of the Isle of Man's sons are fishermen; many go into the merchant service. None of her people live more than a handful of miles from the sea and even those who are essentially landsmen are often concerned in shipping. It is interesting, for instance, to read the names of the original subscribers of the Ramsey Steamship Company which, since 1913, has run a small fleet of coastal freighters plying to and from the island: as well as two corn merchants and a coal merchant, there was a retired farmer, a grocer, and advocate and a bank agent. In just the same way, nowadays, a cross section of the community is to be found in the crews of the island's five lifeboat stations. Take Port St Mary: as well as fishermen, the crew includes a hotelier, two engineers, a schoolteacher, a butcher, a shipwright, a joiner, a student and an estate agent—and nearly all of them are active members of the local yacht club.

Or Peel: fishermen, engineers, a photo-grapher, a coach driver, a hairdresser, a supermarket manager, a factory manager, a company director and a landscape gardener. And so it goes on ...

Everyone cannot go to sea, but the whole community backs the crews with its financial support. Speak to anyone at a lifeboat station and they will tell you of the wonderful work done by the ladies' guilds and the branch fund raisers; in the last year alone they raised £24,751 for the lifeboat service.

Indeed, the salt water runs deep into the island's life; but then much of its heritage came from over the sea, brought by the Celt and Norseman.

The Celts had already been living on the island for many hundreds of years when, in the shadowy days of the ninth century, marauding Viking longboats appeared over the horizon. Warriors were followed by settlers, Norsemen who stayed and intermarried and made their homes on the island, so that Manx culture has both Celtic and Nordic roots. The Vikings were to rule the Isle of Man for 300 years and it was they who set up the Tynwald, the open-air assembly of freemen which has survived as Man's parliament for a thousand years. A proud millennium has been reached which was worthily celebrated throughout last year, 1979.

A beginning If the Isle of Man can justly be proud of its claim to be the second oldest democracy in the world, it can with equal justice take pride in its contribution to the growth of a voluntary lifeboat service embracing the entire coastlines of Great Britain and Ireland.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century an enormous expansion of sea trade went hand in hand with Britain's rapid industrial growth. And the Isle of Man was in the thick of it. Those were the days when the Irish Sea would have been alive, as never before or since, with boats; mostly small, and very vulnerable, sailing carriers.

It was, therefore, no chance, but an indication of real need, that as early as 1802 a pulling lifeboat was brought to Douglas. She was one of the first boats specifically designed for lifesaving by Henry Greathead of South Shields and she was given to the port by the fourth Duke of Atholl, the Island's Governor, whose forebears, in the previous century, had been the Lords of Man.

The people of Man were doing theirbest, as were people in other parts of the British Isles, to tackle the problem of dreadful loss of life from ships driven ashore or foundering among the offlying hazards of inshore waters, using whatever means were available to them. But it was to be another 20 years before a real start was to be made to draw together into a co-ordinated service the diverse lifesaving efforts of local people. And the initiative was then to come from Douglas.

Caught out in south-westerly gales, sailing ships could take shelter in Douglas Bay; but if the gale backed to south-east or east the anchored boats were open to the full force of the wind with the shore under their lee, and, as the Admiralty Pilot records, 'the holding ground is indifferent', A further hazard was presented by St Mary's (or Conister) Rock, a plateau to starboard of the harbour entrance uncovered at low water but covered by as much as 3ft at high water springs. In the early part of the nineteenth century, St Mary's Rock was unlit and unmarked.

One way and another, the toll was heavy.

From 1808, Sir William Hillary, who was to become the founder of the RNLI, had lived in Forl Anne, overlooking the bay, with all the havoc that could be caused by storm spread out under his eyes. Time and time again he was personally involved in lifesaving attempts and a climax came in 1822, a winter of particularly severe gales, when he helped in the rescue of more than 200 sailors in Douglas Bay. It was after that winter that he wrote his 'Appeal to the British Nation, on the Humanity and Policy of forming a National Institution for the Preservation of Lives and Property from Shipwreck".

As a result of his efforts, a meeting was held on March 4, 1824, in the City of London Tavern, at which it was resolved to form the body now known as the Royal National Life-boat Institution. Another of Sir William's great services to shipping was the instigation, in 1832, of the building of a Tower of Refuge on St Mary's Rock, thus crowning this treacherous hazard with a clearly visible and unmistakable mark.

Although more is known about Douglas than the other Isle of Man ports in these early years, it is clear that all shared similar problems and that there would have been many rescue attempts that have gone unrecorded: Ramsey Bay, sheltered from the west but open to the east; Castletown Bay, open to the south and with confused, though weak, tidal streams; Port Erin Bay, open to the west; Peel Bay, open to the north west.

Quickly on the heels of the foundation of the Institution in 1824 came the establishment of four Manx lifeboats: at Douglas in 1825, at Castletown in 1827, at Peel in 1828 and at Ramsey in 1829. The late Major K. G. Groves, who was chairman of Ramsey branch for many years, recorded in his 'Story of the Ramsey Lifeboat Station' that between 1821 and 1846, 144 ships were wrecked on the island and 172 lives lost. But many lives were saved too. It is known that during the years 1824 to 1851, 91 lives were rescued by Douglas lifeboat alone. And during those years of great daring and achievement Sir William Hillary himself was awarded three gold medals for gallantry.

Early services What was asked of Manx lifeboatmen in the days of pulling and sailing boats can perhaps be best be appreciated by a look at some of the services performed. At Ramsey, for instance. On the morning of November 1, 1887, Ramsey lifeboat, Two-Sisters,put out in one of the worst storms ever experienced on that coast, with a wind of almost hurricane force blowing from the south south east and mountainous seas, to take off the crews of a schooner and a brigantine dragging their anchors in the bay . . .

'In returning ashore some of the ropes attached to the drogue broke, in consequence of the great strain upon them, and the lifeboat broached to and was filled by an enormous wave; the crew, however, kept cool; the boat, which was under oars and running with the gale, soon recovered herself, and was landed by another great wave high up on the steep beach, north of Beachmount, about four miles from the place where she had been launched.' Three years later: November?, 1890.

Two Sisters launched into a violent gale from the north with a rough cross sea and heavy rain squalls to take off 15 men from the steam dredger Walter Bibby, at anchor and rolling heavily in the bay. The men were landed safely about a mile and a half south of Ramsey, it being impossible to beat back to the station. For this service and for the rescue of three men from the schooner Margaret the silver medal was awarded to Coxswain Robert Garrett and to the station honorary secretary, E.G. Kerr, who often went out as one of the crew.

Three years later: December 10, 1893.

Ramsey lifeboat, now the new Mary Isabella, out on service, was engulfed and six of her crew washed overboard; fortunately they were all able to regain the boat. February 7, 1895: so severe was the blizzard that Mary Isabella, called out to take off the crew of the distressed Margaret and Elizabeth, could not be launched from the shore.

A passage had to be dug for her through deep snow from the boathouse to the harbour; she was damaged as she was tipped into the harbour from her carriage, but, repaired on the spot, she went on to rescue the two men.

Castletown lifeboat was also called out on that bitter February morning, to a vessel in Port St Mary Bay.

'A moderate gale was blowing from the south, with a very heavy sea. The snow having drifted about six feel against the lifeboat house, a large number of men were engaged to cut a way out for the boat, and at 0915 the Hope was launched. On reaching the bay the ss Vigilant of Liverpool, bound from Burryport for Belfast with a cargo of coal, was found stranded on a reef.

Six of her crew had been rescued by a shore boat, which had put off from the village to her assistance, and the remaining six men had taken refuge in the rigging, from which they were taken into the lifeboat in an exhausted condition, and landed at Port St Mary.' Port St Mary was soon to have a lifeboat of its own because of the number of shipwrecks in the area.

But to return to Ramsey, the new lifeboat Mary Isabella, with her carriage and equipment, had been the anonymous gift of 'a friend' throughCelebrating the Isle of Man's millennium: Port St Mary prepares for the review of the Sail Training fleet by HM King Olaf of Norn-ay, August4, 1979. Port Erin and Port St Mary lifeboats are seen in centre of picture taken from an SAR helicopter from RAF Valley, Anglesey.

With her crew of Fl Lt Alan Coy, Fl Lt Brian Murdock and Winchman Steve Lynch, the helicopter was based on Man for the weekend, taking part in the review and exercising with all the Manx lifeboats as part of regular combined training.the Manchester branch and she was housed in the new Norbury Boathouse, the gift of Mr and Mrs Norbury who lived at Port Lewaigue but who were also connected with Manchester branch. The entire first floor is a crew and committee room, the window providing a fine lookout over the bay and, when the boathouse was first built, there was a second floor above where the coxswain could live. Mr and Mrs Norbury still look down benignly from their portraits in the committee room, which forms a wonderful natural focal point for the station's activities.

It was at about this same time, towards the end of the nineteenth century, that lifeboat activity increased on the west and south-west coasts of the island. Port Erin lifeboat station was established in 1883 at the request of the local people, and a lifeboat was reestablished at Peel in 1885, after a lapse of some years, to meet the needs of an increasing fishing population.

Fishing: Scallops in winter, queenies in summer, with herring fishing building up as the summer draws to an end, Scottish and Irish trawlers coming to join with the Manx boats in the catch.

In the old days the returning herring fleets would fill the island's harbours and, although there was a decline in the industry, fishing is now once again building up. Many of the herrings caught are packed in barrels of salt to be picked up by continental coasters, but of course some, cured at Peel, become the famous Manx kippers.

Most of Port Erin's crew members are fishermen, and fishermen still form the greater part of the Douglas crew. There is always an Admiral of the Herring Fleet and last year it was Bob Corran; Bob joined Douglas lifeboat crew in 1938, was second coxswain from 1940 to 1970 and then coxswain until 1974.

Port St Mary was the last of the Manx lifeboat stations to be established, in 1896, so that now the rocky south-west tip of Man, with its off-lying island, Calf of Man. is watched over to the west by Port Erin lifeboat and to the east by Port St Mary. After a motor lifeboat was sent to Port St Mary, the station at Castletown was closed in 1922 and the present-day pattern of Manx lifeboat stations was set.

Motor lifeboats When motor had replaced manpower and sail, the range of lifesavingincreased dramatically. On October 19, 1936, Barrow and Maryport lifeboats from the mainland and Ramsey lifeboat from Man were all trying to reach the ss Esbo of Helsingfors, in.ballast for Finland, which was dragging her anchors towards Selker Rocks, near Bootle. A hurricane was blowing from the south west and the seas were very heavy.

Ramsey's motor lifeboat. Lady Harrison, launched at 0820 . . .

'When she had gone about 14 miles (she had to cover over 30) conditions were so bad that it was impossible to go further. She was continually swept from stem to stern and nothing could be seen on account of the foam. She made for the lee of the land at Cornah, Isle of Man, and after waiting for threequarters of an hour, in the hope that the weather would moderate, set off again.

She got about ten miles off but was again compelled to return . . . " When she put into Laxey she was told that Esbo's crew had managed to get to safety by breeches buoy and her own ship's boats, helped by people ashore. For their part in the service.

Coxswain J. T. Lord and his crew were awarded medals by the Finnish Government.

Coxswain John Cornish of Ramsey was awarded the bronze medal of the Institution for a service in 1941 which called for great skill. On a very dark, wet November night the trawler Strathairlie had run ashore at Skellig Bay, about three miles north of Ramsey in a strong onshore wind and heavy seas. It was impossible for the lifeboat to get close enough in the shallow waters to take off the trawler's crew— she herself was reported as 'nearly standing on end' in the heavy surf. So Coxswain Cornish anchored and dropped down on his cable, managing to get two lines to the trawler. Then, by hauling in on the lines just far enough for a man to jump aboard when a sea had passed, and hauling out again on the cable before the next sea came, all 13of the crew were successfully rescued, one by one.

Douglas lifeboat, under the command of Coxswain Bobby Lee, was the first to be called out on December 2, 1966, to Nafsiporos, whose 15 crew were eventually rescued by Holyhead and Moelfre lifeboats. Nafsiporos was first reported to be 12 miles from Douglas Head; she was disabled and, sailing light ship, being blown before a violent north-westerly storm. The 46ft 9in Watson/?. A. Colby Cubbin No. I , one of four lifeboats provided by a legacy of the late Mrs E. M. M. G. Cubbin of Douglas, followed in pursuit of the drifting ship, searching, for 36 miles until it was learned that Holyhead lifeboat had made contact.

On September 9, 1970, at about 0600, Port Erin and Peel lifeboats were both called out to the coaster Moonlight, reported to be in trouble five miles north of Chicken Rock in southsouth- westerly gales gusting to storm force and very rough seas. First one empty liferaft was sighted by a Shackleton aircraft and then, at about 1100, Port Erin lifeboat sighted two survivors in another liferaft. It was only with great difficulty that the exhausted men were got aboard, Second Coxswain Peter Woodworth, now Port Erin's coxswain, going over the side on to the scrambling net to reach them. Moonlight's other two crew members had apparently been washed away and drowned. For this service Coxswain Alfred Maddrell, BEM, of Port Erin was awarded the bronze medal, and Coxswain William Gorry of Peel was accorded the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum.

Today Coasters and fishing boats . . . nowadays calls also come from yachts, small pleasure boats or other visitors in difficulties, for the Isle of Man is a great holiday centre. Being, as it were, an outpost in the Irish Sea, calls may come to take seriously ill or injured people off passing ferries, or to search for a passenger lost at sea. Port Erin or Peel lifeboats sometimes go to help climbers in trouble on the cliffs of the west coast, which rise to 1,000 feet. In March 1978 Coxswain Peter Woodworth of Port Erin was accorded the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum for the rescue from the rocks by breeches buoy of three skin divers whose boat had broken down and been blown ashore in a south-southwesterly near gale and rough seas.

R. A. Colby Cubbin No. 1 is still on station at Douglas and there is great competition to be in her crew. She has in fact about three crews, with other lads eager to join, and they all meet down at the boathouse on Sunday mornings to 'clean ship', talk and keep up to date with information. Although mostly fishermen, other occupations are represented, and one crew member is a musician. Robert 'Young Robbie'Corran, Bob's son, is now coxswain and another Robert Corran, a cousin, is second Coxswain. Mary Corran, the coxswain's wife, plays a traditional key role in the station. When a call comes, Captain P. Evans, the station honorary secretary (himself a retired sea pilot) immediately telephones to Mary, who knows exactly which of the crew are available and quickly rings round. Bob Corran still comes down when there is a launch—ready to go out if needed.

Family links sometimes go across from one station to another; the chairman of Douglas branch, Alfred Costain, a silver badge holder, is the cousin of John Hudson, who has been station honorary secretary of Port St Mary for ten years. Port St Mary, at which/?. A.

Colby Cubbin No. 2 was stationed until 1976, now has a 54ft Arun lifeboat, The Gough Ritchie. She is a fast afloat boat and Port St Mary Harbour provides an excellent vantage point from which she can speedily go to the help of shipping in the Irish Sea south of the island, if needed. With Coxswain/Mechanic Arthur Quillin and the nucleus of the crew all living within yards of the station, the boat can put to sea very quickly when a call comes. Family tradition is strong at Port St Mary.

Coxswain Quillin's brother and two cousins have been in the boat for many years, there is a father and son among the number and there has been a Kneale in the crew for almost a century; the present representative is Second Assistant Mechanic Anthony Kneale. The old boathouse is still in use, not only as the crew's shore base, but also as the house for the station's D class ILB.

Just over the headland to the west is Port Erin, at which is stationed the first 37ft 6in Rother class lifeboat to enter the RNLI's fleet; that was in 1973. She is Osman Gabriel, the gift of the late Major Osman B. Gabriel. Osman Gabriel is launched down the Institution's steepest slipway—and it is a fast launch. Recovery, on the other hand, is correspondingly slow and arduous and, with the boathouse open to the north west and the winds that always seem to be in the bay, very long warps run out via breasting buoys are necessary to help position the returning boat.

Peel, the original landfall of the Vikings, is further up Man's west coast.

Until 1972 an offshore lifeboat was stationed there, but Peel now has an Atlantic 21 ILB, a very versatile lifeboat with a maximum speed of 30 knots and an extensive range, yet eminently suitable for inshore work along the cliffs. She is housed in the old lifeboat house in the harbour and, while she may be one of the Institution's most modern lifeboats, there is a venerable guard at the entrance to her house: the figurehead of the Norwegian ship St George which, bound from Greenock to Monte Video laden with coal, pipes and rails, foundered in Fenella Bay on October 6, 1889 ...

'A terrific gale from the north west . . . accompanied by heavy torrents of rain. At Peel the full fury of the gale was felt with exceptional force. The waves dashed over and enveloped the breakwater, and swept the Shore Road and Marine Promenade from end to end, and Peel Castle was continually hidden by the spray. On Monday morning, about 10 o'clock, a large full-rigged ship was sighted about 10 miles from Feel, with a steamer close at hand. As she came closer in, she was seen to be flying signals of distress, having nothing standing but the mizzen-masl and stump of mizzen-lopmast. The jibboom and bowsprit had also gone . . The lifeboat John Monk was quickly launched . . . When the boat rounded the breakwater, she encountered the full force of the terrific north-west gale that was raging, and many people on shore felt that itwas almost tin impossibility for the lifeboat to get up to the vessel in the teeth of such a wind . . .' Nevertheless, the ship's crew of 21, and her captain's wife and ninemonth- old baby were all rescued—the baby coming aboard the lifeboat in the ship's carpenter's bag tied between one of the crew's shoulders. The master later said: 'The Peel lifeboat is a first-class boat.

She never shipped a sea, and the men handled her splendidly . . .' The King of Norway presented a medal, and the Bishop of the Isle of Man a Manx Bible, to every member of the lifeboat crew. St George's keel and a few ribs can still be found by divers in Fenella Bay and the rescue has been commemorated by the Manx poet, T. E. Brown. There have been other postscripts, too: a baby born on that same wild day and given St George as his middle name later became a member of Peel lifeboat crew; and about ten years ago an elderly lady visited the station—she was the baby who had been rescued and it had been one of her ambitions that one day she would come back.

But to return to the present day.

Peel's enthusiastic young crew take pride in the fact that, from time to time, they are asked to help with operational evaluation of gear and equipment.

Their station honorary secretary, David Hill, a young man too, comes from a lifeboat family; he took over the office of secretary from his father and his mother has played a great part in local fund raising.

Peel lifeboat station's president —and very good friend—is the Reverend Canon F. M. Cubbon, chaplain to the Manx police and one of the same family as the donor of the four R. A. Colby Cubbin lifeboats.

Ramsey, on the north east of the island, has a housed carriage lifeboat, the 37ft Oak ey James Ball Ritchie, and this is a station where there are very close bonds with the local police. When the maroons are fired and the crew are making for the boathouse hot foot, the police come down, too, to make sure that all is clear for the boat. Police Inspector Alfred Quirk is on the lifeboat committee and if he helps with any of its events the branch knows that the organisation will be impeccable.

As at all the island's lifeboat stations, there is a strong family tradition in Ramsey and the present coxswain, Lawrence Gawne, is continuing into the future a record of lifeboat service which goes back through four generations to the early 1890s. His greatgrandfather, William Isaac 'Kenna' Gawne, his grandfather, William Isaac 'Willie' Gawne (who was one of the crew on the service to ss Esbo), and his father, Isaac Gawne, were all members of the crew in their time. Then there has been a Kinnin in the boat for more than a hundred years, the present rep-resentative being Second Coxswain James Kinnin. The crews' wives are also very closely involved with the lifeboat herself, as well as organising such fund raising activities as dances and sponsored events. Mrs Hilda Kneale, wife of Motor Mechanic James Kneale, is the grand-daughter of a previous coxswain. Mrs Vera Gains, who has two of her menfolk in the boat, her husband and son, while another son is a shore helper has her own particular niche in the organisation; she goes immediately to the boathouse when a call comes and always has soup waiting for the returning crew.

The late Major Keith Grimble Groves and his family are another example of loyalty to the service passed on from one generation to the next. His grandfather worked for the lifeboats at Southport; his father, Mr J. G. Groves, was honorary treasurer of Manchester and Salford branch until 1911, when he went to live in the Isle of Man and joined Ramsey committee; his mother worked for the ladies' auxiliary after it was formed in 1913 and when it became the ladies' guild in 1926, she was its president; while his uncle, William Grimble Groves, gave a motor lifeboat to the Institution in 1926.

Major Groves himself was a member of Ramsey branch committee for almost 40 years, becoming its chairman in 1958 and later its president.

Now, there is yet another unbroken line of service at Ramsey, because, from 1930, the station honorary secretaries have been directors of Ramsey Steamship Company; first Mr J. B.

Kee, whose father had been in the merchant service; then from 1934, Mr J.

Ramsay and Mr W. R. Edwards served jointly until Mr Ramsay's death in 1962, after which Mr Edwards continued on his own until 1967—he was awarded the gold badge of the Institu-Pictures tion in 1964 and received the MBE in 1966 for his services to the RNLI; and now the honorary secretary is Bernard Swales, the Company's present managing director; he has been a member of Ramsey committee since 1948 and was honorary treasurer from 1950 to 1965.

President of both Ramsey branch and its very active ladies' guild is now Mrs J. B. Ritchie who has also, with great generosity, made possible the provision of two of the Isle of Man's lifeboats, Ramsey's James Ball Ritchie and Port St Mary's The Gough Ritchie—and who, incidentally, is no mean seaman herself.

The young Ann Gough, as she was then, first came to the Isle of Man to teach physical education—she had trained in Denmark and had already taught for two years in Germany. Originally, she expected to be in the island for just four years, but she met and continued on page 23.