THE SIGHT AND SMELL of bacon and hash browns at 90 degrees in the shade was a bit overpowering as a greeting to Grand Haven Coast Guard Station. A sympathetically smiling cook soon corrected my mistaken entrance and directed me to the operations room from where I was immediately taken aboard a 16ft rescue boat and we were off to 'sea'.

'We can sure talk better out here where the action is,' from the coxswain. I think that is what he said as we were now doing 40 knots plus into a westerly force 4 to 5 with a moderate sea which smelt and tasted flat, being fresh water. I hadn't felt cooler for days! Over 300 miles long and some 60 miles wide, Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake entirely within US territory, the others being shared with Canada. It is covered for search and rescue by some 20 stations from which are operated small fast craft, familiar Waveney type boats of varying sizes from 30ft to 44ft, up to large cutters such as the Macinaw ice-breaker of 5,000 tons, 290ft long with six engines developing 12,000hp; an impressive vessel essential in winter to assist in keeping the busy shipping lanes open round the 5,600 miles of Great Lakes shoreline.

Out of the haze appeared a Waveney type lifeboat, painted white with a coloured slash forward on each side, to which I transferred. Radio and good navigation had made this possible in now indifferent visibility and well out from land. We cruised along comfortably at 20 knots while I was shown the boat. Known in the service as a utility boat, utility applies only to her multipurpose role as condition, fittings and equipment were of superb quality.

Inland seas and weather can be just as treacherous as the open sea and having regard for the commercial and pleasure traffic on the lake it is not surprising that the Coast Guard Rescue Service is in daily use. The traffic on radar looked like the Solent on a busy day with a round-the-world yacht arriving into the bargain! Grand Haven, a typical station, has a covered boatyard with slips, repair and service facilities. Adjoining buildings are used for in-service training for the many skills needed by this comprehensive coast watch organisation. The local auxiliary coast guards train and operate also from the station. Stateswide the auxiliaries number some 47,000, about the same as regular coast guards, and their duties include water safety education, public relations and the inspection and certification of craft to State and Federal standards. They serve part-time alongside regulars and, in remote areas, use their own boats for search and rescue. When shown the RNLI film Storm Force 10 they were naturally fascinated by the shots of one of our Waveney lifeboats in heavy seas and thought it incredible that our Institution could be operated by voluntary members with no Government funding.

'Coast Guard City USA' is the title of Grand Haven and for a week in August, when the annual festival is held, it lives up to this name. We were privileged to meet, during the week, the Vice-Commandant USCG, Vice-Admiral Benedict L. Stabile, and the Group Commander for the Great Lakes District, Rear Admiral Henry H. Bell who had visited Padstow lifeboat station when on a UK visit some years ago. The week ended with the parade complete with bands, floats, majorettes and the bewildering noisy razzamataz that is so American. In an open 1956 Ford Thunderbird labelled RNLI we processed through the happy carnival crowds. We watched the floats pass from the saluting base with a marvellous view of the parade. Up and down so many times to honour the Stars and Stripes carried by every band, then suddenly a lone Union Jack being paraded for us: a remarkable gesture by wonderful hosts.

Later travels found us in Norfolk, Virginia, where we visited the Coast Guard complex: a vast supply and maintenance depot, a boatyard, harbour and group HQ for operational SAR stations on the Virginia and North Carolina coast. We toured the yard, saw many types of boat under construction and refit and had a closer look at a 44ft 'Waveney' which was being modified with an enclosed wheelhouse.

By AMTRAC to Washington, so far from the sea yet the closest we came in the USA to our own service as our host was Lt-Cdr Russ Smith, USN, who flew the helicopter from RNAS Culdrose in such gallant attempts at rescue from Union Star on the night of the Penlee disaster. He now flies a desk in the Washington Navy with an impatience to get operational again. He whirled us round the beautiful capital and with Susan and their children gave my wife and I memorable hospitality in his home. They send greetings to all their lifeboat friends.

America can best be described perhaps in superlatives of size, applicable equally well to their Coast Guard service. The sheer size of this essentially humanitarian military organisation is staggering. We were honoured by a glimpse of it..