The winter 2004/05 issue of the Lifeboat included a plea for help from Shoreline member Nigel Whitfield, who has been dubbed a mere 'land lubber' by his boss, a keen dinghy sailor and diver. Our readers came up trumps for Nigel, and then began to reveal the multitudes of definitions available for just about every different kind of sea user, whether viewed from the land or elsewhere on the water ...In the Royal Navy, the 'flyboys' used to refer to those seamen officers who preferred to keep their feet closer to sea level as 'fish-heads'. A fish-head who did not specialise was known as a 'salt horse'. I am sure that one of the latter two sobriquets would be suitable for use by Mr Whitfield.

AC Merriman Liss Hampshire How about 'sea sage' or 'sea sally' or even 'water wallaby'? Perhaps Nigel Whitfield's boss would take exception to 'water wally' though ...

Ruth Walker Stamford Bridge York In my time at sea in the Merchant Service (Tankers-Engineer), we adopted a title for all those officers up above in their quiet bridge. They sat in their seats admiring the views or lounging on the wing in the sun. So my (helpful) suggestion to Nigel is to describe his boss as a 'deck ornament'! Mike Nadin By email I can do no better than refer Mr Whitfield to the Royal Navy, which usually has nautical language pretty well covered. As a keen sailor, I have a couple of motor-boating friends who tell me I am a 'WAFT, which has stood for 'Wind Assisted Flaming Idiot' (or something along those lines) in the Navy for many years, apparently.

Neil Cairns by email From my time when I was nearly always wet, I think the name 'squelch' would fit, as I was always squelching around with half-full boots.

P Bignall Lydney GloucestershireFurther to your correspondence concerning rip currents, I too did not know what a rip current is until I was caught in one.

I was in the beautiful bay of Llangrannog in Cardiganshire with my two children then aged 9 and 11, a niece of 13 and a nephew of 10.

There was a south-going tide running across the entrance to the bay and quite a strong north-westerly wind blowing reasonable-sized waves onto the shore. The two girls were surfing, my daughter (fortunately a strong swimmer) had her new surfboard and my niece was using a lilo.

They started to bathe in the middle of the bay but were slowly taken down to the southern wing. I went down to tell them to come out and go back to the middle again when they started to be carried out. I went in after them and fortunately the lilo was blown towards me (I am not a good swimmer and it was a life saver). I was able to reach my niece and hold her across the lilo but could not reach my daughter.

She started to try to swim ashore but was simply taken backwards out to sea. I shouted at her just to keep her head above water. We were all taken by the current round the corner and swept up against some rocks, where I was able to push my niece up and go and look for my daughter. She had been carried against the same group of rocks but had lost the mental and physical energy to get herself out so I pushed her up also and managed to get out myself. The waves were breaking onto the rocks and it was important to get out of them as soon as possible.

The problem now remained of how to get ashore. There was a 6- foot gap between the rocks we were on and those attached to the shore, with waves shooting into the gap from both ends. I had to time it right. I found later that both my daughter's and my own bathing costumes had been shredded by the barnacles on the rocks (as had our tummies).

There were quite a few people on the beach at the time. Only one man came down to look at us because he said he had wondered if we were all right.A rip current is indeed a dangerous thing. You do not see it because the waves are breaking over the top and you only know about it when you are caught. I do not remember being particularly frightened at the time -1 was too busy. However for some weeks after I would wake two or three times a night from a dream in which I was in a boiling sea with my head being banged against cliffs.

Yours sincerely Francis Rutter, Norwich, Norfolk Steve Wills, Beach Safety Manager, comments: Only a trained eye can see a rip current (experienced surfers actually use them to get out past waves) and normally only from high up, such as a cliff top. As we mentioned in the last issue, it is always best not to fight your way through the current but go with it and then round it. This can have its own hazards, as described here. Mr Rutter did the right thing in grabbing the lilo for support. Another key tip is to ask someone else to get help before entering the water yourself.

Ideally, only go in if you're trained. Learning to swim is a priority.I was holidaying in Cornwall during August 2004 and had the good fortune to be next to Sandy Mouth beach. The team of RNLI lifeguards there were a very welcome presence on this wild coastline. The beach was packed and the surf like a giant washing machine close to the shore and the lifeguards were exemplary in fulfilling their duties. (I work as a countryside ranger and know a bit about managing public recreation.) They were courteous, vigilant and their patrolling was not overbearing, they were just there when it counted. The lifeguards made the beach a good, safe place to bring a young family. Long may they patrol this beach - it needs them! All the very best Dewi C Morris Daventry, Northamptonshire (Also see page 5 for a personal account from a lifeguard in extreme circumstances.)I have just been reading Lynne Gammond's account in the winter 2004/05 edition of the Lifeboat of the dreadful night of 27 November 1954 when the South Goodwin lightship broke her moorings with all her crew being lost.

I have vivid memories of that night, although I was only a boy of 6. We were living on Deal seafront just across from the pier and I remember lying awake listening to the howling of the wind and the crashing of the enormous seas. The road outside our house was like a beach and pebbles were hitting the house for much of the night.

In her report she mentions the Ramsgate and Dover lifeboats searching the sands, but there is no mention of the Walmer lifeboat. I am sure that the Walmer lifeboat was also launched to assist in the rescue, probably the Charles Dibdin (Civil Service No. 32) or maybe that was slightly later on. I was for many years, through the 1970s and early 80s, a member of the shore crew at Walmer.

Although I have now moved about as far away from the Kent coast as you can in England, I still take a very keen interest in the RNLI and its work.

Yours sincerely Peter Eckersley Alnwick Northumberland Your article on the loss of the South Goodwin light vessel in November 1954 brought back vivid memories of that particular storm. I was a crew member on board the New Zealand liner Rangitoto. On 26 November, we disembarked our passengers in Southampton and were en route to the Royal Albert Docks, London, when the radio officer picked up a distress signal from a Swedish auxiliary schooner whose deck cargo of timber had shifted. I believe she was called the Vega. We stood by her as the Eastbourne lifeboat battled through mountainous seas to reach us and take the schooner in tow, not an easy operation in such conditions. How they made port is a tribute to both crews.

The following day we heard that the South Goodwin light vessel had broken adrift and had been found capsized on the sands. My discharge book records that I was paid off in London on the 27 November 1954.

Yours sincerely Peter Aves Ascot, BerkshireRNLI archives show that the Walmer lifeboat at the time was indeed the Charles Dibdin (Civil Service No. 2) [not 32] and that she was involved too.

(Lynne Gammond did include this in her original article but editing removed it - apologies.)tllrlil up.

Search Inside Goodwins Meanwhile the Valtner life-boat.

Charles Dih/lhi (Cii-il .SV/~ •/ •/• u. 2), had also been warned at 1 ..V_ . Maroons lireil and the crew assembled.

but the sea had been rmiuiiij,' so vily that a steep bank of line tirlf had been built up in front of the launching platform. The crew ' nvelled awa the shingle as fast as ould. but it was an hour In the life-boat was read) for lauuchiii;.'.

At 'J.L'O the coastguard asked if the Dover life-lii at Sni/llirni .Ifrira. could also lie launched. This was done, and The coining of daylight had also meant, that the position of the South (loodwin liL'ht esscl could be seen from the shore at Walmcr. She was lyins,' on her beam ends on the Goodwins, the white letters on her side point in*.' to the sky. The Valmi r life-boat was immediately launched al 7.30, and made for the Kellet (rut in order to approach the li hfvessel from the west. The U'aliiicr life-boat closed to within some •_' ) » :?() yards of the u reck, but no sijru of life could I.

on board her. The Uamviate lifeboat also found the South (ioodwin lijdit.vcsscl at daybreak and came as close as she could, but the hea y.