Today's lifeboatmen Coxswain Michael Grant of Selsey joined the crew in 1960 and served as second coxswain from 1972 to 1978, becoming the station's full-time coxswain on 1 November 1978.

He was awarded the Thanks of the Institution on Vellum after a service on 10/11 December 1977, and again in recognition of his skill and seamanship during the rescue of a crew of two from the fishing vessel New Venture, which was sinking in a strong NE gale with extremely poor visibility due to heavy snow and a rough sea in darkness on the night of 30/31 December 1978.

Eleven days later, in the early morning, the Selsey lifeboat rescued the 20 crew of the Panamanian cargo vessel Cape Coast in a violent southerly storm, for which Michael earned the Silver Medal. The rescue of a crew of six and yacht Enchantress of Hamble, aground off Selsey Bill in a southerly gale and very rough sea on 9/10 September 1983 earned Michael his Silver Second-Service Clasp.

A Freeman of the City of London, Mike is married with a daughter and two sons, one of whom, Douglas, joined the crew in 1986.

Facts and Figures Provisional statistics as at 25 November show that during 1991: The RNLI's lifeboats were launched 4.227 times (an average of 12 launches a day) More than 1,150 lives were saved (an average of 3 people rescued each day) Four per cent of all services carried out by lifeboats were in winds of Force 8 and above More than 58 per cent of all services were to pleasure craft There are 268 lifeboats on station, with a further 94 in the relief fleet 122,252 lives have been saved since the RNLI was founded in 1824 Costs The cost of running the RNLI in 1991 was £44m. The approximate current cost of building a lifeboat is: 16ft D class inflatable £10,000 21ft Atlantic rigid inflatable £56,000 38ft 6in Mersey £650,000 Fast Afloat Boat 4 £900,000* Fast Afloat Boat 3 £1,200,000* 'Estimate based on prototypes, production costs may differ.