Coxswain Robert Maiden of Hartlepool (East Division) joined the lifeboat crew in 1961, and was bowman from 1966 to 1967.

He was second coxswain from 1967 until 1968 when the station closed, but in 1976, when it re-opened, he was appointed coxswain. From 1975 to 1983 he was also a crew member of the station's Atlantic 21 lifeboat.

In 1985 he was awarded a bronze medal in recognition of the courage, determination and seamanship he displayed when the lifeboat landed four crew members from the Dutch cargo ship Anne aground on the Longscar Rocks in a severe northerly gale, with a Force 9, gusting 11, rain squalls and heavy seas.

Bob, whose father and grandfather were lifeboatmen, is employed as a longshoreman in Hartlepool Docks. He is married and his son, Robert, is a member of the lifeboat crew..