THULE? The most remote land sighted by the Romans? Was it Shetland? Perhaps. Certainly Shetland is the most northerly of the British Isles and Aith and Lerwick, both lying above latitude 60 degrees north, are the most northerly of the RNLI's lifeboat stations.

But if the Romans were among the first distant travellers to see the islands, they have been followed by people from many different parts of the world, on passage, seeking new lands, fishing and trading.

Shetland, an archipelago of more than 100 islands, holms and rocks, 17 of them inhabited, lies between Norway and Scotland and across the northern approaches to the North Sea. For the Norsemen of the eighth to eleventh centuries, not only was it a land which they were to raid, to settle and to influence for all time, but it was a stepping stone on their voyages to other parts of the British Isles, to Iceland and to the unknown north-western Atlantic. In just the same way, in the last world war, it offered the first haven for the many little boats bringing people from Norway to freedom as well as a base for the Norwegian fishing boats which kept communications with their occupied homeland open by means of the famous 'Shetland Bus'.

With its seas and climate kept temperate by the Gulf Stream, Shetland's fishing grounds have always been among the finest in the world. Fish have been found both in abundance and in great variety: halibut, skate, haddock, cod, ling, herring, mackerel, shellfish, crab, lobster . . . . By the fourteenth century Hanseatic merchant vessels from Hamburg, Liibeck and Bremen had opened up a summer trade, bartering fishing gear, salt, fruit, corn and cloth for Shetland fish. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Dutch herring fishermen arrived in large numbers to be followed by others from such countries as Sweden and Denmark, and nowadays fishing boats from many different nations come to the waters around Shetland at one time or another.

The expansion of sea trade, first under sail, then power, brought many ships that were rounding Scotland on their way to or from Scandinavia, the Baltic and Northern Europe through Shetland waters. From the 1830s steam packets opened up regular communication between Lerwick, Leith and Aberdeen and now the mail ships are augmented by several flights a day in and out of the airfield at Sumburgh Head on the southernmost tip of Mainland.

Nowadays, too, foreign yachts and passenger ships follow in the footsteps of the small fishing and merchant vessels of the past, cruising to Shetland in the summer, and, of course, the development of oil fields in the northern North Sea, with Sullom Voe growing into one of the largest oil terminals and tanker ports of the world, has added a completely new dimension both to the commerce of Shetland and to its age-old cosmopolitan tradition.

The world it would seem comes to Shetland; but it is equally true that the men of Shetland go out to the world.

No one on the many islands lives far from the sea and for generations, to make a livelihood, the crofters combined fishing with their farming: inshore fishing in the short days ofwinter, and offshore, or 'haaf fishing in summer. Before the days of power, fleets of small open boats would set out for the haaf fishing between May and August; they might go as far off shore as 30 or 40 miles to fish by line for cod and ling and they would be at sea for at least two or three days at a time.

From the early eighteenth to the mid nineteenth century the most common haaf fishing boat was the 'sixareen', a direct descendant of the Viking longships.

An open double-ended clinker boat of about 30ft overall with the raked stem and stern and flaring beam characteristic of her Norse forebears, she was rowed with six oars and carried a dipping lug sail. She was swift, a good weight carrier and could be pulled up to a safe berth on shore—and her crew thought nothing of taking her such great distances out to sea.

Shetlanders were used to handling small boats from childhood. They grew up with daily experience of the sea'and from the early part of the last century navigation was often included among other everyday subjects at school. No wonder that many men from Shetland went to sea in the Royal and Merchant Navies and in whalers, a trend intensified in times of economic troubles.

No wonder, either, that a high proportion of them became captains of their ships.

The coast The Admiralty North Coast of Scotland Pilot describes the Shetland Isles ' . .. for the most part fringed by bold cliffs and relatively high. The islands are separated by narrow sounds, and towards the north end of the group there are two passages running north and south through the islands.

'The tidal streams run strongly round Shetland Isles and very strongly in the sauna's between the islands.

'There are few outlying dangers and in clear weather Shetland Isles may be approached boldly. In poor visibility, however, the group should be approached with great caution on account of the strong tidal streams and also because the coastline as a whole lacks distinctive features and, when only a small portion of it can be seen, its identification is not easy.' Once in the sounds and long narrow inlets, the voes, there is haven, but in an area where summer gales can arise with unexpected abruptness and winter storms blow with all the weight and ferocity of the bitter north, where snowin winter and fog in summer can close down visibility on a coastline abounding in rocks and skerries, and entirely unlit until 1821, many seamen have been lost. On two occasions the haaf fishing fleet suffered heavy loss when caught out at sea in swiftly approaching storms: in 1832, when 31 boats were lost, and in 1881, when ten boats were lost. Over the centuries many seamen have been lost in disasters out of sight of land about which nothing could be known unless some debris was washed up. Closer inshore many seamen undoubtedly owed their lives to the individual gallantry of the Shetlanders, renowned for the care they took of shipwrecked mariners, but before the days of radio or telephone when the only propulsion for boats was sail and oar, organised lifesaving cover for so vast an area spread out round sparsely populated islands was an intractible problem.

A Board of Trade lifeboat was established on Fair Isle, 24 miles south of Sumburgh Head, in 1878 and did valiant local lifesaving work. Two pulling and sailing boats were followed in 1924 by a motor boat, which remained on station until after the last world war when, more powerful RNLI motor lifeboats with greater range being established on Mainland, the largest of Shetland's islands, the Fair Isle boat was replaced with rocket lifesaving equipment.

It was at the beginning of the 1930s that RNLI lifeboats came to Mainland, when the development of marine engines and improved communications changed the whole situation, as can be understood from a report on new lifeboat stations published in the March 1930 issue of THE LIFEBOAT: 'It was decided n establish a lifeboat station in the Shetland Islands, this being made possible by the system of coast communications which has recently been organised in the Shetlands by the Board of Trade. In view of the fact that only a boat of the latest and most powerful type would be suitable tosafeguard an area made up of a widely scattered group of many islands, a motor lifeboat of the 51ft Barnett type, with two 60hp engines, has been laid down for it.' This Barnett lifeboat was Lady Jane and Martha Ryland and she was stationed at Lerwick, the capital of Shetland, from 1930 to 1958. She was followed in 1958 by a 52ft Barnett, Claude Cecil Staniforth, and in 1978 by one of the Institution's fast afloat 52ft Arun class lifeboats, Soldian, (Soldian Rock, awash, lies off the northern entrance to Bressay Sound, and Soldian was the name of a yacht owned by the station's first honorary secretary, G.

Theodore Kay).

Lerwick is, of course, on the east of Mainland, and three years after her first lifeboat arrived, another station was established on the west coast, at the village of Aith scattered around the head of Aith Voe. Aith's first lifeboat was KTJS, a 45ft 6in Cabin Watson (1933 to 1935), then The Rankin, a 51ft Barnett lifeboat, came on station to be superseded in 1961 by the present 52ft Barnett lifeboat, John and Frances Macfarlane. Lerwick and Aith lifeboats both lie afloat, the one moored in Lerwick's South Harbour and the other at moorings.

Soldian was provided by the Lerwick lifeboat appeal, to which there were many generous contributions from local people, from members of the Brent and Ninian Pipeline Consortium and Chevron Petroleum (UK) Ltd (a reflection of the appreciation of the offshore oil industry for the work of Shetland's lifeboats), from the Aberdeen Students Charities Campaign and from a number of bequests. John and Frances Macfarlane was the gift of Mr and Mrs John Ewing Macfarlane, who retained a close personal interest in the boat and her people, visiting the station whenever possible so that a warm friendship has grown up equally enjoyed and valued by the lifeboat people of Aith and by the donors of their boat.

But to return to 1930 ... A lifeboat committee had been established at Lerwick but its lifeboat had still to arrive when two wrecks following quickly one after the other underlined the need for Shetland lifeboats.

The first was the loss, in March, of the Aberdeen trawler Ben Doran with her crew of seven. She went ashore, storm-driven, on the centre of the Ve Skerries, a dreaded, unmarked square-mile plateau of low rocks and skerries off the west coast. Another Aberdeen trawler, Braconbush, sighted and reported the wrecked boat and then, unable to approach her, stood by; members of Lerwick Lifesaving Brigade, with line-throwing apparatus, were taken out in the Aberdeen trawler Arora', and Mr Kay, the recently appointed Lerwick lifeboat station honorary secretary, and other helpers with some knowledge of the reef, went out with the skipper and crew of the small motor haddock boat Smiling Morn, thinking that she could perhaps be brought nearer to the skerries than the trawlers. But all to no avail: the task was utterly impossible. Stromness lifeboat, a 51ft Barnett, made the round voyage of 260 miles through the galesand very high seas from Orkney to Ve Skerries and back. She picked up a pilot at Scalloway en route to the scene of the wreck, but by the time she arrived no sign of life could be found, despite a thorough search; it had been the longest trip made by a motor lifeboat on service up to that time.

Among other awards to those who attempted the rescue, Mr Kay was presented with an inscribed pair of binoculars.

After the loss of Ben Doran a lighted buoy with a wave-operated whistle was established near the Ve Skerries and in 1979 a 50ft automatic lighthouse was built on the skerries themselves by the Northern Lighthouse Board.

Less than a fortnight after Ben Doran broke up on Ve Skerries, the mail ship St Sunniva ran aground in thick fog on Mousa, on the east side of Shetland.

Stromness lifeboat made the journey to Shetland once again but on arrival found that all the passengers and crew had got ashore safely in the ship's own lifeboats.

Lerwick's new lifeboat Lady Jane and Martha Ryland arrived in the early summer, and between then and the time she left the station in 1958 she rescued 80 people.

Lerwick Lerwick is now the capital of a land where, with flourishing small industries, a fishing fleet of large seagoing motor vessels as well as inshore boats, and expanding back-up services to the offshore industry, there is work for everyone. No longer is it necessary, as it has been at times in the past, for young people to leave their own land.

There is an air of buoyancy and good cheer which perhaps finds reflection in that Lerwick's modern fast afloat Arun lifeboat has a mainly young, and a very enthusiastic, crew under her young coxswain/mechanic, Hewitt Clark.

By RNLI standards, the station may be fairly young, too, but nevertheless the lifeboat tradition of family bonds is already strong. At the inaugural ceremony of its first lifeboat in 1930 the vote of thanks was given by Colonel Magnus Shearer, Convener of Zetland.

Later, his son, also named Magnus, was to become an officer of the branch committee; he was appointed honorarysecretary in 1968 and has given sterling service to this busy station ever since, receiving the award of binoculars in 1979. His knowledge of seafaring round Shetland and her neighbouring lands is all embracing for he and his family are shipping agents, concerned in general overseas trading of all kinds as well as at one time running a little cargo ship themselves. Mr Shearer has been chairman of the Harbour Trust and, among other responsibilities, acts as consul for Sweden.

From 1947 until 1979, when Hewitt Clark became coxswain, the coxswains and second coxswains of Lerwick were brothers; while John Sales, BEM, was coxswain, from 1947 to 1969, his brother William served as second cox-swain, and while George Leith was coxswain, from 1969 to 1979, his brother Peter served as second coxswain.

And Peter Leith, whose experience of fast boats goes right back to war service in Air Sea Rescue, handling boats with speeds up to 38 knots, is still second coxswain.

Coxswain John Sales, whose mother came from a lifeboat family in Peterhead, was a lad of 17 or 18 when Lerwick branch was being formed. He was one of the many seamen who put their names down to join the crew, too many for all to be accepted, and he was among those who had to wait. During the years that followed his experience, like that of many Shetlanders, was to include the rugged deep sea sailing of whaling ships and war service at sea; later he became skipper of his own boat. John Sales joined the lifeboat crew in 1943, became coxswain in 1947 and was to be awarded both the silver and the bronze medals for gallantry.

The bronze medal was awarded to Coxswain Sales for the rescue, on December 26, 1956, of five men from the Swedish motor vessel Samba which, her engines broken down, had drifted for more than 100 miles before a south-easterly gale while tugs, unsuccessfully, tried to take her in tow; one tug had managed to rescue six. of Samba's crew, veering down her own inflatable dinghy, but the line parted and the boat was lost before anyone else could be taken off. As Samba approached the high cliffs near Ord Head, Coxswain Sales brought the lifeboat down wind across the Swedish vessel's square stern six times to take off the five remaining men. Twenty minutes later Samba was driven on to the rocks and within 15 minutes she had disappeared. For this service the Swedish Lifeboat Society presented a plaque to Lerwick lifeboat station.Two years later the silver medal was awarded to Coxswain Sales for the rescue of three of the crew of the Russian trawler Urbe which sank, on October 16, 1958, near the rocky islet of Holm of Skaw off the north-eastern corner of Unst. For the lifeboat it meant a 53-mile passage heading straight into a northerly gale; and it was a very dark, overcast night with frequent rain squalls. Approaching Unst, Coxswain Sales put in to Baltasound to embark Andrew Duncan Mouat who, knowing the area well, had volunteered to act as pilot. With about three miles still to go to Holm of Skaw, one of the lifeboat's propellers was fouled by a net; nevertheless she was brought within 40 yards of the holm's southern shore and anchored in the turbulent waters while the three Russians were successfully brought off by breeches buoy. Mr Mouat was awarded the bronze medal for his part in the rescue and the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum were accorded to the other seven members of the lifeboat crew: Second Coxswain William Sales, Bowman George Leith, Motor Mechanic Robert Laurenson, Assistant Mechanic John Johnston and Crew Members John Sinclair, Frederick Mullay and Raymond Leask.

In 1969 a framed letter of thanks signed by the chairman of the Institution was sent to each of the crew who took part in a long search on March 15 for three Norwegian fishing boats which were eventually found and escorted to safety: Coxswain John Sales, Second Coxswain William Sales, Acting Bowman Peter Leith, Motor Mechanic Hewitt Clark (now coxswain), Assistant Mechanic John Mouat and Crew Members H. A.

Hughson, A. Fraser and J. Smith. They were out for 11 hours in south-easterly gales, phenomenal seas and continuous squalls of snow and sleet. The weather was described by observers as 'the worst for many years'; it was in fact a forerunner of the weather in which, a day or two later, Longhope lifeboat was to be lost.

The silver medal was also awarded to Coxswain George 'Geordie' Leith. It was for the rescue on December 13, 1972, of nine men from the trawler Granton Osprey which had gone aground on Bressay Island in southwesterly winds of hurricane force and in very short, steep and rough seas. It was a very dark evening with frequent heavy rain squalls and heavy seas and spray were breaking over both lifeboat and the grounded trawler. With Granton Osprey making water in her engine room, speed was imperative. The coxswain twice brought the lifeboat in, bow on, and, despite the fact that she was being swept, and sometimes completely enveloped, by solid water, held her there with infinite skill while the nine men were successfully taken off.

In addition to Coxswain Leith's silver medal, the remaining members of thecrew were accorded the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum: Second Coxswain Peter Leith, Motor Mechanic Hewitt Clark, Assistant Mechanic John Mouat and Crew Members James Smith, Ian Fraser, Theo Nicolson and Andrew Leask.

For the rescue on January 12, 1974, of four men from the rig safety vessel Spearfish, which had also gone aground on Bressay Island and was being pounded on the rocks by southeasterly gale force winds, Coxswain George Leith was accorded the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum.

Each of his crew received vellum service certificates: Second Coxswain Peter Leith, Motor Mechanic Hewitt Clark, Assistant Mechanic John Mouat and Crew Members James Smith, Sam Fraser, Theo Nicolson and Andrew Leask.

The services for which awards were made alone indicate the international nature of Lerwick lifeboat's calls, and a glance down the service boards drives the point home. Take just one year at random, say 1977: the lifeboat launched to help an oil rig standby vessel, tugs from West Germany and the USA, yachts from Norway, cargo vessels from London and Sweden and a Faeroese fishing vessel, as well as, of course, more local boats. Until recently it was not at all unusual to see a Norwegian cruising lifeboat lying in South Harbour with the RNLI lifeboat, but now that Lerwick has her Arun, Soldian, with a maximum speed of 18'/z knots and a range at full speed of 250 nautical miles, the Norwegian lifeboat is a less frequent visitor.

Aith From town to country. Lerwick lifeboat moored alongside in a harbour with the old town rising up behind her; Aith lifeboat moored out in the quiet waters at the head of the voe with nothing but the green of the croft fields and a very sparse scattering of homes in sight. But it is enough, because there can hardly be a person at Aith who is not involved with the lifeboat in one way or another. Right next door to the boathouse is the village post office and the honorary secretary John D. Garrick, is the post master. With call out by maroon backed up by telephone, everything is right on the spot.

Kenneth Henry, who has been coxswain since 1971, divides his time between scallop fishing and insurance work; the second coxswafn, William Anderson, is headmaster of the local school, right down by the waterside, within a few steps of the lifeboathouse—and at least one other of his masters is numbered in the crew; the assistant mechanic, Wilbert Clark, runs a mobile shop, so when a 'shout' comes he is already on the road and allhe has to do is 'put up the shutters' and make for the boarding jetty. And so it goes on. And, as at Lerwick, there are plenty of young men eager to join the crew.

Deeply involved in all aspects of the lifeboat station is a lady who only came to live in Shetland less than ten years ago: Dr Margaret Shimmin, GP for Bixter (a mile or two up the road) and a wide area of the surrounding countryside.

It is the normal pattern that the doctor at Bixter should also be the honorary medical authority for Aith lifeboat station and Margaret Shimmin accepted that duty from her predecessor along with all other parts of the practice. She was not only warmly accepted by Coxswain Henry and his lifeboatmen as a full member of the crew, going out on service with them when a call comes from a merchant ship with an injured man on board, or at times when the lifeboat has to act as an ambulance between off-lying islands, but before very long she had also been invited to become chairman of the branch. For some time she served as president of the ladies' guild as well. But above all she knows everyone and everyone knows her, appreciating her friendship and help.

And in her work great efficiency goes hand in hand with deep concern; so well have she and her husband, John, organised the practice that recently it was awarded one of the top places in a countrywide competition seeking out good management in GP practice.

As at Lerwick, the two previous Aith coxswains are still living in the village, honoured members of the community.

There is 'Robbie Lochside', Robert Anderson, DSM, coxswain from 1948 to 1965, who lives just up from the boathouse, and who had been a merchant seaman as well as serving with distinction in the Royal Navy during the war.

Then there is John Robert Nicolson, coxswain from 1965 to 1971. Now he is a crofter and breeds mink, but in his younger days he spent 20 years in the merchant navy, going right round the world and seeing 13 seasons, from October to April, whaling in the Antarctic, 'the worst seas in the world'.

He remembers how cold it was working in among the pack ice—but Aith can have deep snow and ice, too. There have been times of intense cold, slack tide and calm weather when the voe has been covered with ice thick enough to mark the topsides of this the most northerly lifeboat in the RNLI fleet.

Coxswain Nicolson was awarded the silver medal for the rescue of twelve men from the Aberdeen trawler Juniper, aground in Lyra Sound, between Lyra Skerry and Papa Stour, on February 19, 1967. A south-easterly gale was gusting up to force 8 with heavy showers of rain and sleet and there was a considerable sea.

Nevertheless, while it was still dark Coxswain Nicolson took the lifeboat in from the north through the only clear channel among the rocks and skerries to be found on the chart, a passage through which he had never been before and which, normally, was only ever used in fair weather around high water. He brought her alongside the trawler, securing her there, rising and falling some 12 to 15 feet, long enough for the 12 men to be taken off. Then, the securing rope was severed and, as it would have been too dangerous to try to turn the lifeboat, Coxswain Nicolson took her under Juniper's stern and out through the sound to southward, safely negotiating the many rocks. The seven members of his crew were each awarded the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum: Acting Second Coxswain Andrew Smith, Acting Bowman James Manson (now the motor mechanic), Motor Mechanic Frank Johnston, Acting Assistant Mechanic Wilbert Clark, Crew Members (as they then were) William Anderson and Kenneth Henry and Crew Member James Tait.

Before the light was put on Ve Skerries in 1979, another vessel, Eleanor Viking, was wrecked on this plateau of rocks in December gales of 1977. Aith lifeboat was called out but, unable to get close enough in to help because of the nature of these skerries, she stood by while the stranded crew were lifted to safety by a British Airways helicopter from Sumburgh Head; it was the first time in its history that this ancient dreaded hazard to seamen had given up its victims. A Nimrod aircraft had also helped, dropping flares to illuminate the area, and all the various crews who had taken part in this combined operation later met together at Sumburgh.

The lifeboatmen of Shetland work closely with the helicopter crews concerned with search and rescue in the area, Aith working with British Airways and Lerwick with both BA and Bristow helicopters.

Fund Raising There is no doubt that the lifeboats of Lerwick and Aith are 'happy ships', and if one word had to be used to describe the very successful "fundraising activities of the ladies' guilds associated with the two branches 'happy' would be a good choice. Both stations achieve splendid financial results for the lifeboat service, and both guilds give a great deal of enjoyment to their communities on the way.

In the year 1979/80, Lerwick branch and guild, with the support of the offlying islands and many of the country districts, raised £15,768 and Aith, with a population of only 280 but with the backing of the surrounding rural area, raised £6,008. Brae, a village on the way north to Sullom Voe growing as 'incomers' from Scotland and England arrive to join the oil complex, has also formed a guild which works closely with Aith, and that same year it raised £1,415.

The verdict of Miss Nessie Robertson, honorary secretary of Lerwick guild, on fund raising is 'it's so easy,' because everyone in Shetland is aware of the good work of the lifeboats and responds with matching generosity.

And Miss Robertson should be a good judge because, backed by William Reid as honorary treasurer, she has worked extremely hard for the lifeboats for many years; she was awarded a silver statuette in 1968 and the gold badge in 1981; Lerwick guild was awarded a record of thanks by the Scottish Lifeboat Council in 1966.

Matching generosity . . . take Fetlar, for instance, an island with a population of 80; it raised £71 in one annual house-to-house collection, as well as making other contributions.

Tremendous fun . . .

Lerwick guild has 100 members and, as Miss Robertson explains, they have 'tremendous fun' with their fund raising: whist drives, coffee mornings on board the mail ship St Clair (run by the guild, coffee made by the ship), a mannequin parade and, of course, the annual autumn dinner dance for which members of the guild cater and cook and a group of men do the waiting (with a 'shop steward' properly appointed!).

The house-to-house collection week is in June, there is a summer raffle and throughout the year there is good custom for souvenirs and Christmas cards.

Individual contributions come in all sorts of ways: one shop sells empty pate bowls for the lifeboats, another puts all unclaimed coins found on its floor into its collecting box. At the time of the Lerwick lifeboat appeal, Second Coxswain Peter Leith raised £3,000 through the sale of souvenirs in his DIY shop and by arranging dances. Every gift, in whatever way it comes, is acknowledged with a warm letter of thanks.

Fund raising is enjoyed in Aith, too, where Mrs Mina Anderson, wife of Second Coxswain Anderson, is the guild president, Mrs Drina Hughson is honorary secretary and the wives of the coxswain and other crew members all take their part. Aith holds two principal annual events. The first is a gala day early in June when, with people from the country and from the oil industry coming to join in the fun, well over £1,000 is raised. Then in October a second social occasion is planned; perhaps a concert or perhaps a dinner. As at Lerwick, when Aith holds a dinner, it is all 'home cooking', and at one gathering Coxswain Henry settled down and cooked steaks for everyone.

To the running of the lifeboat service in Shetland much is contributed at sea and on land and it is given with warmth, enthusiasm and unswerving dedication. And Shetland has a proud record: in just over 50 years, serving seamen of all nations, Lerwick lifeboat has launched 227 times rescuing 157 people, and Aith lifeboat has launched 110 times, rescuing 91..