Ray Kipling, the RNLi's public relations officer, takes a closer look at the rescue statistics over the last 20 years.

WHAT HAVE a man on a bicycle, a man in a barrel, a pheasant, a butterfly and a • horse got in common? They have all been rescued by lifeboats and their exploits hit the headlines, perhaps distorting people's ideas on the work of the modern lifeboat service. A careful look at the statistics brings a better perspective and proves that it is not only fools and horses that cause lifeboat launches.

To help analyse the trends, a table of figures for the years 1965, 1975 and 1985 is produced below. The comparisons are almost exact though the rescues are now analysed into more categories than they were 20 years ago.

Nevertheless, some distinct trends emerge.

MERCHANT VESSELS The lifeboat service is as relevant to merchant shipping as it ever was and there is no decline in rescues from ships.

In addition to the rescues, a number of sick seamen are landed from ships each year. With over 90% of Britain andIreland's trade carried by sea, the RNLI's protection will always be needed. If merchant vessels are in serious trouble, it is likely that the weather will be extreme and the lifeboat's job will be difficult and dangerous.

This is proved by the fact that all but one of the RNLI gold medals awarded since the Second World War have been for rescues from merchant vessels (1959 Coxswain Richard Evans, Moelfre, rescued eight from MV Hindlea; 1963 Coxswain Hubert Petit, St Peter Port, rescued nine from MV Johan Collett; 1967 Lt Cdr Harold Harvey, lifeboat inspector aboard Holyhead lifeboat and Coxswain Richard Evans, Moelfre, rescued 15 from MV Nafsiporos; 1976 Acting Coxswain Keith Bower, Torbay, rescued 10 from MV Lyrma; 1979 Coxswain Brian Be van, Humber, rescued four from MV Revi 1981 Coxswain Trevelyan Richards, Penlee, rescued four from MV Union Star before both the lifeboat and the Union Star were lost with all hands; 1981 Coxswain Michael Scales, St Peter Port, rescued 29 from MV Bonita).

FISHING VESSELS There has been a steady increase in services to fishing vessels. As with merchant vessels, services to fishing vessels are likely to be prolonged and in bad weather. In many cases, vessels are escorted to harbour in adverse conditions or towed to safety. The combined services to merchant and fishing vessels, which are the traditional work of the RNLI, continue to call on the time, energy and skills of lifeboat crews.

PLEASURE CRAFT Whilst is is meaningless and unfair to lump together everything from the ocean going yacht to the rowing boat under the term pleasure craft, the public often make no distinction and think of everybody at sea for pleasure as "weekend sailors" or "captain calamities".

As is so often the case, the lunaticfringe attract the media attention while the majority of boat owners take a more responsible approach.

Safety advice is freely available from HM Coastguard. The RYA can advise on training. VHP radio and distress flares, lifejackets and basic survival gear are very cheap in comparison to the other costs of boating. The RNLI reacted to the increase in pleasure boating by introducing inflatable lifeboats in 1963 and now the inflatables and rigid inflatables form half the lifeboat fleet and perform over half the rescues.

Because of their speed, and the nature of their work, these lifeboats tend to spend less time at sea than the larger lifeboats. Inevitably, as more people use the sea for pleasure, there will be more calls on the RNLI, often from reasonably experienced people who have taken adequate precautions and who may get into trouble through no fault of their own. However, the RNLI is not a get-you-home service and lifeboats have the task of saving lives at sea, not towing in boats.

Yachts There is a steady increase in calls to yachts, both mono and multihulls. The most common causes are stranding, adverse conditions, steering failure, sail failure/dismasting and, where an auxiliary engine is fitted, machinery failure.

Motorboats Again there is a steady increase in calls and not surprisingly the main cause is machinery failure. In the case of both yachts and motor boats, capsize and man overboard account for relatively few calls but most deaths.

Rowing boats, air beds, rubber dinghies Every year there are tragedies caused by rubber dinghies and air beds being swept out to sea. Lifeboat crews are often extremely angry when parents have not taken elementary safety precautions to protect their children and the lifeboat's sad job is to land a body.

Sailing dinghies Capsize, which can often place lives at risk, accounts for two thirds of lifeboat calls to sailing dinghies.

Sailboards There has been a huge increase in services to sailboards from nothing a few years ago to 520 calls and 285 lives saved in 1985. Eighty per cent of the calls were due to adverse weather and of these 38 were carried out in winds over force 7 and 17 took place after dark. Clearly some board sailors are not taking enough care.

Whichever way the figures are twisted, one conclusion stands out; the RNLI provides a vital service to all seafarers and none should ignore it.LAUNCHES BY LIFEBOATS - AND WHO NEEDED Type of Casualty Fishing vessels Merchant and military vessels Sailing pleasure craft i Powered pleasure craft / Manual pleasure craft People cut off by tide, etc Swimmers, divers / Aircraft Unidentified distress signals 1 Miscellaneous I LB = Lifeboats LB 1% 105 238 140 165 17 177 over 10 metres 1965 ILB 11 8 159 153 84 1 46 Total 207 113 397 293 249 18 223 ILB LB 265 83 267 214 66 25 19 11 135 54 = Inflatable 1975 ILB 73 12 352 393 310 144 157 7 81 174 Total 338 95 619 607 376 139 176 18 216 228 and rigid inflatable THEM LB 405 116 493 228 54 28 40 34 112 130 lifeboats 1985 ILB 134 25 875 452 272 105 96 9 86 170 Total 539 141 1,368 680 326 133 136 43 198 300.