Geoffrey Pallet, editor of Coastguard magazine, describes the service which acts as co-ordinator of all marine search and rescue around the shores of the United Kingdom. He also passes on some useful advice to visitors to the coast.'LATE IN THE AFTERNOON of Friday November 30, 1984, the honorary secretary of Fishguard lifeboat station was contacted by Milford Haven coastguard to be told that a 33-foot fishing vessel, Oneida, had a rope round her propeller and was being driven on to rocks under Dinas Head.' How often must regular readers of THE LIFEBOAT journal have seen those words, or something very similar, to introduce another account of lifeboat daring-do? But how many of those readers have any more than a hazy idea of what HM Coastguard does? Something to do with customs perhaps? Do they run the lighthouses? Aren't they something to do with air-sea rescue? All too often people are aware of the heroism of the lifeboat or helicopter crews, but not of the professionalism and dedication of the coastguards whose co-ordination makes so many of these rescues possible.

Coastguards are the co-ordinators of all marine search and rescue operations around our shores. As such they are the first point of contact for any marine emergency, and can be contacted by radio, telex or simply dialling 999. The coastguard will take over the planning of any search required, and will liaise with the other rescue services to ensure the most suitable rescue method is used.

A typical day can see coastguards involved in requesting the launch of lifeboats, scrambling helicopters, calling out cliff teams, and always listening out for the next emergency. Last year, for example the coastguard service initiated 3,126 rescues involving lifeboats and altogether 6,346 people were thankful that someone had called the coastguard.

Origins of the service Today's high-tech coastguard service is a long way from the old image of a man with a parrot and a telescope, staring out to sea from a wind-swept cliff-top. It is a highly trained force with all the latest technology from radar to computers, from satellites to VHP direction finders.

Things have obviously improved a lot since the days when a curmudgeonly fellow in Punch described the early coastguard stations as 'castles of idleness, where able-bodied men spent their time looking through long glasses for imaginary smugglers'. I suspect the reality was somewhat different, with long hours and harsh discipline the order of the day.

The original coastguard service was set up in 1822 to crack down on smuggling. Early coastguards were more interested in saving money for the Revenue than saving lives, and theyspent their time on the lookout for brandy casks slung unders keels or tobacco woven into hawsers. In those days many people did not regard smuggling as a crime, but merely their contribution to free trade. At the end of the eighteenth century it was estimated that half the spirits drunk in this country had been smuggled. One Deal boatman remembered his smuggling days 'when a boatman might smuggle honest, didn't go a stealing and wasn't afraid to die for his principles'.

The same was expected of coastguards, it seems. In a Bexhill churchyard, for example, there are the graves of David Watts and William Meekes, two coastguard officers killed on duty within two days of each other in April 1832.

These early coastguards were also expected to help ships in distress, however, and in the case of a shipwreck do what they could to save lives, often at the risk of their own. At that time, coastguards frequently provided the crews of early lifeboats, and found themselves rowing out into appalling conditions. In his history of Hastings fishermen, Steve Peak has recorded an incident in 1863 which shows how hazardous this could be.

'With seas breaking over the parade, the lifeboat was taken to Warrior Square where a heaving-off line ran out to sea.

The crew of 15 coastguards managed with considerable difficulty to haul the boat through the surf, but then a rope at the bow holding the heaving-off hawser broke. A large wave turned the Victoria broadside on, the crew lost control and the boat was driven on to a groyne and she was hurled violently against the parade wall five or six times.' After 1831, coastguards were officially regarded as a Naval reserve and although they still had no statutory obligation to save life at sea, they continued to do so. Over the fifty yearsup to 1909 they took part in the rescue of 20,000 people. The peak came in 1866 when 385 were saved by luggers, Coastguard boats and small craft.

'Coastguardsmen,' said Admiralty instructions in 1911, 'are to render every possible assistance to the local life-saving services as far as is compatible with their proper duties.' Much of the early lifesaving equipment, incidentally, rockets and line-throwing pistols, cork life jackets, cliff belts and helmets, can be seen at the Coastguard Museum at Brixham in Devon.

The Admiralty retained control of the service until after the First World War, but in 1923 the modern civilian force was born within the Board of Trade.

For the first time in its long maritime history Britain had a specialised staff primarily devoted to coast-watching and life-saving.

HM Coastguard today Today's coastguard service is based on a network of 24 rescue centres spread around the coast, within a framework of six regions. The headquarters for these regions, the Maritime Rescue Co-Ordinating Centres, are at Dover, Falmouth, Swansea, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Yarmouth. Within these six regions are between three and five Districts run from Maritime Rescue Sub-Centres. The basis of all search and rescue (SAR) co-ordination in the United Kingdom is the constantly staffed watch system at these centres; twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fiftytwo weeks of the year. The nerve centre of the centres is the operations room which is permanently staffed by at least three coastguards maintaining radio, telephone and telex watch. Each centre is fitted with an emergency planningroom, press facilities, staff accommodation and storage space for coast rescue equipment and vehicles, usually Land- Rovers. All have local radio aerials as well as control of remote aerial sites.

They also have the latest communications equipment, quick and efficient communications being the key to modern coastguard operations. The three international distress frequencies are 500 KHZ MF Morse, 2182 KHZ MF radiotelephone and 156.8 MHZ VHP channel 16. The first is always guarded by British Telecom's coast radio stations on behalf of the Coastguard. BT also normally guard 2182 but that is monitored by coastguards as well. Rescue centres constantly guard channel 16, which now covers 95 per cent of our coasts up to approximately 40 miles out to sea. More recent communications developments have included the vital breakthrough of VHP direction finding equipment (VHP DP), which should be fitted coast-wide by the end of this year.

This has proved an invaluable tool in locating people in trouble through their VHP signals pin-pointed between two separate listening posts.

All too often casualties do not have a clear idea of where they actually are.

The visibility may be poor; they may have mis-read a chart or an instrument (supposing that they have them), or they may not be familiar with. the stretch of coast they have found themselves on. In this situation, VHP direction finding can save a considerable amount of time and energy, and ensure that rescue units are not racing off in the wrong direction.

VHP DF to the rescue An incident in the Wash, which Was co-ordinated by Yarmouth MRCC, shows the difference DP can make in a confused situation. A motor cruiser had left Lowestoft for Hull without a compass, flares or other safety equipment apart from a small VHP radio, and using an A A road map for a chart. Although in the company of a better equipped ketch, the motor cruiser's skipper became anxious when the ketch was lost to sight after being swamped in high seas.

Needless to say she was not sure of her position, but re-made contact with the ketch. The next day, however, Humber MRSC relayed a message to Yarmouth that the two vessels were again in difficulties in heavy seas, short of fuel, and with a parting tow. Once again they only had a hazy idea of their position.

The Eastern Sea Fisheries patrol boat, Protector 2 was on watch and Humber lifeboat also offered to launch as she could tow the motor cruiser to Hull, and she also carried VHP DP aboard. Skegness lifeboat was also anticipated and asked to take VHP DP bearings from the beach to help establish the position of the two vessels. The ketch was advised, with a disclaimer, to maintain a northerly course towards the Inner Dowsing light tower. With the DP bearings from Yarmouth MRCC, viathe Trimmingham aerial and Skegness lifeboat, ESF Protector was able to locate the two vessels and stood by them until the arrival of Humber lifeboat. The motor cruiser was taken in tow by Humber lifeboat and the ketch was escorted to Grimsby by Protector. Yarmouth assured me that DF was a lot more use than AA maps when it came to search and rescue at sea.

The second major innovation which will have a vital role to play in the foreseeable future, is the advent of satellite communications through the International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT).

The UK terminal for maritime distress traffic is at Falmouth MRCC, via Goonhilly Down. This has required Falmouth Coastguard to devise quick and effective methods of communication with other sectors as they will frequently acquire operational information that needs to be acted upon many hundreds of miles away. Last year Falmouth ran its first international conference to consider these problems, and to devise the most effective way of using this equipment to get the best from computer-assisted search planning.

Visitors to the coastguard stand at this year's Earls Court boat show will have seen the unique new system devised by the Coastguard service for marine rescue planning. This deals with the complex problems of arranging the best search patterns and areas, taking into account the different characteristics of the search vessels and aircraft, the prevailing weather, sea conditions and visibility. The computer system calculates the best answer to these problems in a fraction of the time previously taken to arrive at the solution manually.

Thus the resources available for a rescue —helicopters, other aircraft, lifeboats and vessels nearby—can be tasked much more quickly and effectively.

The development of satellite communications through Falmouth illustrates the way in which different rescue centres have different specialist responsibilities within the overall network.

Aberdeen, for example, has the North Sea oil industry which is estimated to provide 80 per cent of their traffic. As the recent text-book rescue of 140 people from the drifting BP rig Tharos showed, a high degree of co-operation between the industry and the rescue services ensures that the North Sea is a safer place than many feared it would be at the start of the oil boom.

Aberdeen is also responsible for the coastguard rescue helicopter, a Sikorsky S61N, based at Sumburgh in the Shetlands. Normally, of course, a coastguard expects to call on a Navy or RAF helicopter, but as the MoD has no military need to station any of its units so far north, this corner of the region is covered directly by the coastguard helicopter.

A glance through the local newspapers, or the search and rescue pages of Coastguard magazine shows that it is money well spent, and that the crew have no time to sit around and get bored.At the other end of the country, Dover MRCC has the job of policing a one-way system in the world's busiest shipping lane, the Dover Straits. The Channel Navigation Information Service (CNIS) was introduced in the early seventies and mid-Channel collisions are now something of a rarity. Liaising with their French counterparts at Cap Griz Nez, Dover transmits regular broadcasts at ten and forty minutes past the hour on VHP Channel 10, to provide the latest navigation information on activity in the Strait area. Ships are expected to report in on entry to the area from either direction and they must then observe strict regulations on crossing the two one-way traffic flows.

The service maintains a spotter aircraft to monitor vessels not complying with the collision regulations, and stiff fines can be implemented on rogue ships.

Dover and Falmouth are also reportingin stations for ships with bulk liquid and gas cargoes, or for hampered vessels likely to present a hazard to other traffic using the Strait. The computerised system provides a constantly up-dated supply of vital information on the position, speed, and course of potential hazards, plus a watching brief on all traffic, just in case.

There is a lot more, of course, to the modern coastguard than the communications centres, crucial though they are to today's marine rescues.

Coastguards are also on hand to carry out breeches buoy rescues from ships in trouble, although this is thankfully now a rare occurrence. They also operate coastal searches; cliff, mud and quicksand rescues; provide mobile patrols both ashore, in Land-Rovers, and afloat, in general purpose inflatable boats. They also staff coastguard lookouts at times of bad weather or at similar times of high risk to mariners; and they carry out a vital public relations campaign to put the sea-safety message across to the public, press and media.

Auxiliaries If I then told you that there are just 550 regular coastguards, you would wonder what they did on their day off.

The answer is the vital part played by the 8,500 auxiliary coastguards. Men and women with a sense of public duty similar to the crews and fund raisers of the lifeboat service. People who enjoy living in a coastal community or sailingat weekends, and who want to put something back into their sport or their community. Auxiliaries come from all walks of life, and perform a variety of duties. Many are organised into rescue teams under the command of a regular coastguard, a sector officer, who also supervises their training. These teams are on permanent stand-by to respond to cliff incidents, or, in flatter parts of the country, mud and quicksand victims.

Coastguard teams in areas where mud is a particularly serious hazard, like Walney Island in Lancashire, Eastney in the Solent, and parts of Essex, are now acknowledged specialists and usually design their own rescue equipment to suit their special conditions.

Auxiliaries are also on call to assist coastal searches, staff the coastguard lookouts at times of special risk or at the forecast of bad weather, and provide back-up for regular staff in rescue centre watchkeeping. In addition there are thousands of reporting officers and auxiliaries afloat who are the eyes and ears of the service, prepared to keep alert to the possibility of an incident, and if necessary, provide some extra assistance.

Ultimately, of course, everybody on our coasts is an auxiliary coastguard, in that they can all spot an incident and make a 999 call to report it. They can also help by using their common sense when going to the coast, especially with children. Many readers of THE LIFEBOAT, I'm sure, pop into the local lifeboat station when they are on the holiday and chat about local problems and incidents. Why not pop in and chat to the coastguard as well, especially if you are thinking of going on the water? The coastguard will know the local conditions, tides, currents and off-shore winds where visitors won't.

Words of advice What sort of advice would a coastguard give? In general terms use your common sense and plan ahead. Check local conditions and the weather forecasts before going out in a dinghy or on a sailboard, or taking that walk along the beach or cliff-path. It is amazing how many people will joke about the unpredictability of the English weather, and then forget all about it when they set foot in a boat. Weather forecasters may not be infallible, but at least give them a chance. Other factors like an incoming tide are far more predictable, and you need not be stranded if you plan ahead.

If you are going out in a boat, don't be a jumbly and sail in a sieve. Make sure that it is a well-found craft that is properly equipped for the voyage you have in mind, and that you can handle it, even in an emergency. Fit a multichannel VHP transceiver, and make sure you know how to use it properly. There is no time to read the instructions in an emergency. Having got one, don't clog up the airways with social niceties, and arrangements to meet in the pub.

Waffle waste's time, and cluttered VHP channels can lead to a distress call being missed. So learn good radio discipline, and that goes for Citizen Band users as well. Incidentally, CB should not be regarded as a substitute for VHP. Tell thelocal coastguard what you are up to, before you set out. Tell him where you are making for, and provide an estimated time for your return. You can only be thought overdue if someone was expecting you. Again valuable time can be saved. It is also helpful to let them know if you change your plans. You may be snug in a different berth, when the coastguard thinks you are overdue.

Join the yacht and boat safety scheme as well, which will mean your basic details are on file, and will again speed up the process by letting people know what they are looking for. Report anybody who seems to be in trouble. Don't be afraid of making a nuisance of yourself.

Make the call, and let the experts check it out.

If you are going afloat make sure that you have the right safety equipment, and know how to use it. There should be life-jackets for everyone on board, for example. On smaller craft in calm inshore waters other buoyancy aids may be enough. Flares should be carried, and an eye kept on the date, they don't last forever. Keep them stowed in the dry and keep different types stowed separately to avoid confusion in the dark. Make sure that you have the correct charts and tide tables, and again, know how to read them. Don't rely on an AA book or a guide to beautiful Britain.

Coastguard advice is not just aimed at yachtsmen of course. Canoeists, seaanglers, divers, water-skiers and the rapidly growing army of board sailors, can all benefit from a chat to a coastguard about the safety arrangements most suitable for their particular sport.

For land-lubbers, check those cliffpaths and tides before walking.

In an article like this I can only scratch the surface of coastguard advice and work but there is an extensive range of literature available on all aspects of sea-safety; booklets, leaflets, posters, all available from Coastguard stations or the Department of Transport's information division at 2 Marsham St, London SW1. Readers of THE LIFEBOAT will also find the new film Seawatch of interest, available on loan on 16 mm and all video formats from the Central Film Library, Chalfont Grove, Gerrards Cross, Bucks 9 (telephone Gerrards Cross 4111). Readers who live on the coast can arrange a showing through their local coastguard. We also welcome new readers of Coastguard magazine, a quarterly available on request from Marsham St.

The coastguard service is acutely aware of the problems of getting their message to the inland 'navies', and all the thousands of people who go to the coast once or twice a year, and are at a greater risk than people who know the sea and respect it. I hope that this brief introduction helps to get the coastguard message across to them before their next holiday, and perhaps, the next time they meet a coastguard, they won't ask him about smuggling..