Twenty-five years' service: Commander Bruce Cairns, RD, RNR, retired as chief of operations at the end of 1986. He joined the lifeboat service as a district inspector of lifeboats in 1961 and served in the Irish, South East and Southern districts. He was appointed chief of operations in 1974. Before joining the RNLI he was employed by the Thames Conservancy Board. His nautical career began as a cadet in the fleet auxiliary vessel Fort Duquesne and he went on to serve as a deck officer in the Royal Mail Lines..