The RNLI provides its volunteers with the best lifeboats, equipment and training for the job, and so it must. But sometimes, nothing is a match for the sheer ferocity of NatureWhen a lifeboat crew launch to the rescue, their own safety is not uppermost in their minds. They trust in each other and their boat to get to the casualty in time and home again safely. The yearly total of lives saved is a testament to RNLI volunteers' skill and courage.

However, there is also a tally of crew members who have risked and lost their lives at sea - a dreadful 438 in the RNLI's 182-year history.

As this years festive lights in the Cornish village of Mousehole are once more switched off for an hour, first thoughts will be of the Penlee crew, so tragically lost just 25 years ago. Sadly, this is not the only lifeboat tragedy within living memory - thoughts will also turn to those lost from Rye Harbour in 1928, St Ives and Cullercoats in 1939, The Mumbles in 1947, Fraserburgh and Arbroath in 1953, Broughty Ferry in 1959, Longhope in 1969 and Fraserburgh in 1970. When we remember 'Penlee', we remember them all.

A proud history Penlee lifeboat station was named after Penlee Point, a rocky tip to the south of Penzance, Cornwall, between the port of Newlyn and the village of Mousehole.The area has a strong lifesaving tradition stretching back more than 200 years: Penzance lifeboat station operated between 1803 and 1917, while Penlee has been open since 1913. Both are gilded with RNLI awards in recognition of outstanding rescues, not least an amazing 40 Medals for Gallantry.

It was at Penlee Point that the crew of the Watson class lifeboat Solomon Browne launched down the slipway for the last time on the evening of 19 December 1981.

Courage and stamina At 8pm the Solomon Browne met 15m waves and hurricane-force winds as she battled towards the Union Star coaster. The vessel had suffered power failure and was drifting towards the rocky Cornish shore. By now neither the Navy helicopter nor the tug that had also come to her aid was able to get close enough in such conditions. Reaching the scene at around 8.45pm, Coxswain Trevelyan Richards made repeated attempts to get alongside and take people off the Union Star. Once, the lifeboat was thrown on top of the coaster only to slide off into thenext towering wave. Success came after 35 minutes with the transfer of four people.

A community gives its all The night was to end in tragedy, however.

Former RNLI Head of PR Edward Wake-Walker takes up the story: 'The helicopter crew could see that they [the lifeboat crew] had some survivors aboard but that there were two people still on the coaster and one, if not two, in the water. Then, moments later, at 9.21pm, they heard over the radio: - Falmouth Coastguard, this is Pentee lifeboat, Penlee lifeboat calling Falmouth Coastguard.

- Falmouth Coastguard, Penlee lifeboat, go.

- We got four men off... look, erhangon... we got four off at the moment, er... male and female. There's two left onboard...

The message ended abruptly [as so movingly conveyed in the recent BBC TV documentary.] But Lt Cdr Russell Smith, at the controls of the helicopter, could see the lifeboat, still apparently under control and heading out to sea. He took this as his cue finally to lift his aircraft out of the dangerous area where she had been hovering for so long and head back to Culdrose. He had assumed the lifeboat had made the same decision to turn for home.

'At this point, there was only one other witness left: the tug NoordHolland, standing off, about a mile out to sea. Her skipper, Guy Buurman, listening to the vain attempts by the Coastguard to regain radio contact with the lifeboat, could see Union Star, the casualty vessel, right up close to the cliff and, intermittently, the lights of the lifeboat. His last view of the lifeboat was when she appeared high on the crest of a wave, silhouetted against the coaster's lights.

Minutes later, the ship suddenly went dark: possibly the moment she was at last tumbled over at the foot of the cliffs.

'By the time cliff rescue teams arrived at the scene, the Union Star was already wrecked at the foot of the cliffs and there was no sign of the lifeboat. When she was eventually found, the wreckage gave no real clues as to what happened other than that she was ultimately subjected to the most shattering and violent force imaginable. The largest portion of the lifeboat, including the heavy engine compartment, was found 300m to the east of the Union Star, which suggests she met her fate here. Some of the victims' bodies were never found.' John Blewett, Nigel Brockman, Charlie Creenhaugh, Stephen Madron,Trevelyan Richards, Kevin Smith, BarrieTorrie and Gary Wallis were the eight lifeboatmen to die.

There was an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy for the bereaved. National recognition came with a visit by the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Locally, collection buckets overflowed as wallets and purses were literally emptied over them - the only practical help that could be offered by thousands of ordinary individuals to a shattered community.

A new generation of lifesavers Just two days after the Solomon Browne's last service, a whole new crew of volunteers had come forward. This included the then 17- year-old Neil Brockman, son of the deceased Assistant Mechanic. Neil is now Coxswain at Penlee. Then, he and his new colleagues manned a relief Watson class Cuyand Clare Hunter. In 1983, they received one of the new Arun class all weather lifeboats, the Mabel Alice. The yet larger and faster Severn class Ivan Ellen followed in 2003 alongside one of the new generation of inshore lifeboats, the Atlantic 75 Paul Alexander donated by Richard and Jo Archer in memory of a beloved son.

In 1995 Neil was awarded the RNLI Bronze Medal for his part in the rescue of five men from a trawler off Land's End. To quote Edward Wake-Walker again: 'It was a proud day for him, his family and the people of Mousehole, highlighting the indomitable spirit of Cornish seafaring blood, and reminding the world that triumph is as much a part of Penlee lifesaving as tragedy.' Below L-R:The Solomon Browne in her heyday Photo: Norman Fitkin The Mabel Alice approaches Mousehole in 1983 The Ivan Ellen, Penlee's latest all-weather lifeboat Photo: Nicholas Leach.