The narrow stretch of water which separates England from France has long been a hub of marine activity, and lifeboat stations have been established there for nearly 200 years. Mike Floyd looks at the Dover Straits today and the way in which the RNLI arranges its cover in the area.

Anyone who claims an absolute - the biggest, the fastest, the first - is asking to be contradicted, but stand in Dover Coastguard's MRCC, high above Dover Harbour, while an endless stream of radar blips make their way up, down, across and back through the Dover Straits and it is doubtful whether anyone would argue that this is not the busiest shipping area in the world.

Through this 20-odd mile wide stretch of water streams commercial traffic headed to and from the major ports in northern Europe and the UK's East Coast while across it scuttles a large part of the ferry traffic between England and France.There are around 150 cross-channel shipping movements on an average day plus around 250 'up and down' movements.

To these 400 movements must be added innumerable fishing vessels, yachts and motor boats, all wending their way through the straits -just 18 miles wide at their narrowest point - at speeds ranging from a 3-knot tug-and-tow to hovercraft at ten times that speed.

A 'Traffic Separation Scheme' - essentially a maritime one-way system - keeps 'up' and 'down' vessels apart, with a 'central reservation' for added safety. Vessels should always be either in the traffic stream or crossing it at right angles to reduce confusion, but as always there are those who forget or ignore the rules. In the heart of this maelstrom of traffic many vessels need to follow and then cross the traffic lanes to reach their destinations, making a sharp turn across the lanes. The Dover Straits could be likened to a series of major cross-roads, without any traffic lights or road signs and, given the stopping distance of any sizeable ship, frequented by brake-less juggernauts.

Margate FRANCE Fortunately the eagle-eyed coastguard radar, well-trained Coastguards officers and conscientious crews keep the dangers to a minimum, but with such an enormous amount of shipping on the move the potential for accidents is high.

This potential casualty risk is one of the reasons that such areas are as considered high risk by the Institution, which ensures that they are covered by more lifeboats than would be needed to meet search and rescue commitments in other areas.

On some 40 miles of coast between Margate and Dungeness there are no fewer than six lifeboat stations, operating nine lifeboats between them, and the historical importance of the area as a centre of maritime trade can be gauged from the dates of establishment of the stations.

Ramsgate was established in 1802, Dungeness in 1826, Dover in 1837, Walmer in 1856 and Margate in 1860. Only Littlestone is a relative newcomer, having joined the ranks in 1966. Lifeboats on station range from D class inflatables to the latest 25-knot Trent, due to take over from Ramsgate's Tyne late in 1994.

Safety record Despite their closeness all of the stations are busy, with 169 'shouts' between them during 1993; Margate had a total of 44, Ramsgate 36, Walmer 11, Dover 40, Littlestone 15 and Dungeness 23.

In many respects the pattern of calls for these lifeboats is very similar to those in other areas, spread across the range of size and type, but the all-weather lifeboats in particular do have calls to the commercial traffic from tune to time.

Although the cross-Channel Ferry trade has been somewhat under the spotlight in recent months its safety record is, in fact, impressive in view of the huge number of crossings made. Although all of the stations in the area are obviously continually aware of the presence of such heavy traffic it is not an over-riding consideration in their work and planning, although an exercise involving ferry evacuation is held once a year somewhere in the country, and any lessons learned or techniques evolved are noted and passed on.

No two incidents could ever be the same, and the flexibility of the SAR operation is a vital ingredient. Dover Harbour has a Port Emergency Plan which can be deployed rapidly to deal with a variety of major situations in close proximity to the port, but the overall search and rescue operation remains completely flexible and may involve not only UK elements but also French and Belgian resources.

The extra cover provided by RNLI lifeboats in the area not only provides almost saturation coverage if needs be, butalso maintains cover should several lifeboats be involved for a period of time with a serious incident.

Margate's Mersey is the northernmost lifeboat in the Straits area, indeed being to the north and west of North Foreland she is actually based in the Thames Estuary.

However the proximity to the Straits means that although the Mersey mainly works to the north and west of her station she can, and is, called on to cover parts of the Straits. During August this year, for example, she was one of the vessels called to help take off non-essential personnel after the Ramsgate ferry Sally Star was immobilised by an engineroom fire.

The carriage launched Mersey - currently 12-20 Leonard Kent - now launches into the harbour, or outside at low water when large areas of drying sands are exposed, after the disastrous collapse of Margate pier in 1978 left the old slipway station severely damaged and isolated in its ruins. A D class inflatable provides inshore cover, launching from a slipway close to the lifeboat house.

Just around the corner, only about 5 miles by road but about double that by sea, is Ramsgate with its commercial port providing afloat accommodation for the lifeboat. For some years this has been Tyne 47-036 Kenneth Thelwall II but the second production Trent class,14-02 Esme Anderson, was due to take over at the end of 1994.

Despite a recent set-back, following the closure of one berth after the collapse of a passenger walkway, commercial traffic in the port is growing, with two companies now operating cross-Channel traffic. The lifeboat's casualties are varied, but she exercises with the commercial ferries and, having been heavily involved with Sally Star's engine-room fire, the crew are well aware of the intricacies of dealing with this type of vessel. The all-weather lifeboat lies afloat at a pontoon, but an Atlantic lives in the boathouse and can be launched by davit over the quayside when her fast response is the most appropriate.

The next station to the south is Walmer, until fairly recently the home of a traditional beach-launch all-weatherlifeboat but now operating a modern, fast Atlantic 21 and a summer-only D class inflatable. An extremely attractive boathouse - built in the last century to echo a church just across the esplanade and almost invisibly extended recently - sits on the foreshore with access to an ever-changing shingle beach. The profile of the beach - a steep shingle ridge andthen a gently sloping foreshore during our visit - changes so frequently that the launching tractor is equipped with a bulldozer blade to re-profile the beach as required. The Atlantic can be launched with the beach in almost any shape, but once she is afloat the tractor sometimes has to do some quick landscaping before she can be recovered!shed just in front of the main building houses the station's D class. Smartly painted it looks as though it has been there for years - a traditional hut matching others in the area, if a little neater and better kept. Only on opening the doors does a well-kept secret become apparent - the shed is in fact a steel container clad with wood to blend in with the surroundings.

A thief or vandal trying to kick his way into this innocuous wooden hut is in for a very big surprise! Transfer Sitting roughly halfway between Ramsgate and Dover's all-weather lifeboats Walmer's 30-knot Atlantic B589 James Burgess finds most of her work dictated by her very fast response. The recent transfer of the helicopters from nearby Mansion may well see her quick response used even more in the future. Just offshore the Goodwin Sands run parallel to the coast and just part of the local knowledge required of Walmer's crew is to keep up to date with the shifting contours and the little gutways which enable the sands to be crossed - a course of action definitely not recommended to anyone without such intimate knowledge! Next along the coast is Dover, with its massive commercial traffic and now an increasing pleasure boat trade to the port's sheltered marina in the western coiner. This area, the older section of the docks, is also home to Dover's Thames class 50-001 Rotary Service, although a relief Arun greeted us during early November. The station is devoted to its steelbuilt Thames, although it will be an early station to receive a Severn class - in 1996.

Close co-operation between all of the users of the port is clearly essential - and is helped by the fact that honorary secretary Captain White has a wide working knowledge of the harbour. Unusually, but understandably, Dover is one of the RNLI lifeboats which needs permission from the port control authorities to leave harbour - a sensible precaution asthe sudden appearance of a 20-knot Thames under the bow of an approaching ferry could be quite unsettling! Dover's all-weather lifeboat is another which has little pattern to the casualties she attends: fishing vessels, yachts and motor cruisers, and commercial vessels all come in for attention at times, although she does seem to have more than her fair share of the unpleasant task of recovering bodies from the sea. People overboard from commercial traffic and from the nearby cliffs accounting for most of this grizzly task.

Further southwest and the straits begin to open out, with the cliffs around Folkestone giving way to the expanse of Romney Marsh. In the shallow bay between Folkestone and the protruding spit which is Dungeness lies Littlestone-on- Sea, home to another Atlantic 21, B573 The Lady Dart andLonglife II. From a recently extended and modernised boathouse on the beach the Atlantic provides another high-speed link between the neighbouring all-weather boats. A weather shore in the prevailing westerlies the beach is a good source of run-away inflatables and airbeds in addition to the other mixed bag of casualties.

A ramp bridges the steepest ridge of Littlestone's shingle giving way to a long, shallow foreshore and at low water the tractor, trailer and rigid inflatable can be six day's camel ride away from the station before there is enough water to float the lifeboat. Almost every station has its peculiarity and Littlestone's is the nature of the surface the lifeboat is launched over. A fine layer of sand gives way to soft mud and the inconsistency of the surface is not helped by the occasional bait-digger's hole. Not infrequently the tractor's wheel finds a soft spot... and much shovelling, inserting of solid objects and winching used to be required to regain firm ground. Ever resourceful the crew obtained a large screw anchor - used by electricity companies for erecting overhead lines - and, with the addition of a 4-ton hydraulic winch to the tractor, life is now much simpler. If the tractor sticks two crew or shorehelpers use a scaffold pole as a tommy-bar to wind the 5ft long anchor into the ground, attach the winch cable and stand back to watch as technology takes over from mud-splattered manual labour! High and Dry The most southerly of the Straits stations is Dungeness, just 4 miles away from Littlestone, and visible from it.

Dungeness however has a different character, its carriagelaunch Mersey, 12-27 Pride and Spirit, having a somewhat different role from the neighbouring Atlantic station and its large hangar-like boathouse occupying an exposed site on the shingle spit. The station, like many others on this coastline has seen changes in recent years. Once a beach and slipway station, with the boathouse and slipway further out along the spit, the gradual eastward movement of the shingle left the station literally high and dry. Even now the concrete apron outside the 1977-built boathouse ends well short of the shingle dip down to the gently shelving beach -17 years ago the concrete reached the edge of the shingle. The everchanging beach does not, however, inconvenience the lifeboat crew, who merely choose a slightly different spot for launching or carry out a spot of landscaping with the launching tractor's bulldozer blade.

An active fishing fleet is drawn up on the steep beach towards the tip of the spit, the effort involved in hauling them out less than the inconveniences of nearby drying harbours. Other fleets fish the area and angling, pleasure and commercial vessels make up the normal mix of casualties.

As with any group of lifeboat stations a visitor cannot help but notice the differences between them - every one is unique even though it operates under the same organisation and to the same rule book. Their character is dictated partly by the type of lifeboat they operate, partly by their particular situation and conditions, partly by the personalities of the coxswain, honorary secretary and crew members. Whatever their differences they have many similarities - they have but one aim, saving life at sea, and a common bond in their dedication to the lifeboat and everything connected with her.

This commitment and enthusiasm also means a willingness to turn out in numbers to talk with itinerant Lifeboat magazine editors and keep the kettle constantly on the boil to take the chill off a November day. Gentlemen, my thanks!TKie Watchful eye In addition to the Coastguards normal safety role the MRCC at Dover also controls the UK side of the Channel Navigation Information Service. In conjunction with the French authorities at Cap Griz Nez the CNIS 'desk' at the MRCC controls and monitors all traffic in the area.

The control room is equipped with a new generation of radar equipment which processes the images from three separate radar installations (at Margate, Dover and Fairlight) before displaying them as a single display and superimposed on a chart of the area.

Vessels entering the area are automatically given a number which is displayed alongside the moving 'blip' on the screen. Any vessel calling to identify herself has her departure port, destination, cargo and draft logged on the computer.

The system calculates the speed and direction of each radar blip and displays a vector line in front of it on the screen, giving the direction of movement and the distance it is expected to cover in the next six minutes. Behind the blip a slowly decaying trail shows its direction and distance over the last 12 minutes. From this information changes of course and potential collision situations can quickly be ascertained.

Ships which choose to travel in the wrong direction in the shipping lanes are picked up by the CNIS radar, identified (by a Coastguard aircraft in good visibility), and reported to their Flag States for action. All radar displays are recorded on video tape and a plotting system also enables the track of offenders to be printed out. Faced with such evidence few ships plead not guilty when confronted with their misdeeds!.