Selflessness

We sometimes hear inspiring news reports of people acting on instinct, trying to save a fellow human being with no thought for their own safety. At sea, there is a tradition that mariners should help others in need and an early intervention can often stop a problem from escalating into a life-threatening situation. However, can you be expected to risk your life to save another? Over the years, many individuals have selflessly attempted to save others at sea, only to become victims themselves.

Just last year, a near disaster took place at Rhyl, Denbighshire, when a member of the public spotted a small child in trouble in heavy surf near the harbour entrance. The man courageously swam across the river to help, but he had underestimated the power and speed of the water’s flow. Thankfully, Rhyl’s D class lifeboat and crew were close at hand to rescue both man and child. In an emergency, the wisest, and most effective, course of action can be to call for help and wait for expert lifesavers to arrive.

Bravery

Thousands of men and women have volunteered to save lives at sea for the RNLI since 1824. Over the years, the Institution has awarded Gold Medals to just 119 who have demonstrated extraordinary courage and skill.

The RNLI’s standards for assessing rescues for gallantry medals are as rigorous as ever – lifesaving hasn’t got any easier. When deciding whether to award a Medal for a service, assessors look back on Medal rescues of the past, to see if the exceedingly high standard of heroism and skill is met.

When people decide to join the RNLI as a lifeboat crew member or a lifeguard, they are accepting a certain amount of risk – it’s the nature of the job. Barrow Coxswain Alec Moore, who has been involved with lifeboats for 40 years, reflects: ‘The dangers are always there and always will be. It [the sea] is a dangerous environment, rough or calm.’ Yet the same individuals rarely talk about their selflessness or bravery. Lifeboat crew and lifeguards alike are a generally modest bunch, who’ll mention their good training rather than talk about their own skills or courage. They praise the excellent kit and craft, perhaps compliment the rest of the team but, even after an heroic rescue, you’ll hear comments like: ‘It was nothing really. I’m just doing my job.’

Perhaps their modesty stems from seeing themselves as just one small part of a wider RNLI effort to save lives at sea that dates back so long. Lifeboat Operations Manager John Chappel has welcomed many new crew members to Sennen Cove lifeboat station: ‘New crew realise there is a risk involved but seem to have an almost unquestioning trust in the record of Coxswain, boat and Institution.’

Sacrifice

Since lifeboats began, families and friends have held their collective breath waiting to hear that their loved ones have come back home safely. Sadly, over the years, the sea has claimed the lives of several hundred lifeboat crew members. From Lerwick in Shetland to Penlee in Cornwall, communities still remember the sacrifice made by local lifesavers.

To recognise and celebrate the service given by these and all of the RNLI’s volunteers and staff over the decades, a memorial is planned at RNLI Headquarters in Poole. For information on plans and funding see rnli.org.uk/memorial.

The relative safety of 21st century all-weather lifeboats compared with open lifeboats can be misleading. Despite improvements in training and technology, loss of life remains a threat. Crew have to leave the cosy wheelhouse at some point and face the elements. However well equipped, they are just a handful of humans fighting a cruel and vast ocean on a relatively tiny craft. As Sennen Cove’s John Chappel succinctly puts it: ‘The overwhelming power of the sea is the same as ever.’

Dedication

The RNLI is not just about one-off spectacular rescues. Being a lifeboat crew member or a lifeguard takes everyday dedication and is a great responsibility. The demands on crews’ time are greater than ever, with more training and more shouts. Lifeguards, too, have never been busier with increasingly crowded beaches and surflines.

Crews and shore helpers know they could be called out at any time, leaving families, friends, work or bed. Just hearing a storm in the middle of the night can put some volunteers on edge. Fowey Lifeboat Operations Manager Will Mitchell has great respect for the commitment of his crew: ‘Whatever the weather, they always turn up at the boathouse when the pagers go off, not knowing what to expect or how long they will be at sea, in exactly the same way that crews did 100 years ago.’ (See page 24 for a personal account.)

Crews and lifeguards may enjoy the camaraderie and the skills learned, but all RNLI lifesavers are motivated essentially by the thought that someone’s life is at risk and they can help.

Strength

Crews and lifeguards need to be strong, both physically and mentally, just as they were in the pulling (rowing) lifeboats era.

When a flash rip current hit a busy beach in Perranporth, Cornwall, in 2005, lifeguards famously saved 35 people in just 5 minutes, in an intense and physically exhausting mass rescue. Some lifeguards, armed only with a rescue board or tube, fought through the surf just as Charles Fremantle did in his day.

The success of a lifeboat rescue can still depend on brute strength. St Ives Coxswain Tommy Cocking recalls a service to a small boat that had broken down in a notorious area of surf. One man jumped to safety in the inshore lifeboat but Tommy spotted a child left behind, just as the surf crashed over S both boats. Somehow the crew of three had the strength to hang onto the stricken boat. When the surf passed, they got the child out, just before the next wave capsized the vessel. Tommy reflects: ‘Had the crew not all been so fit and strong, that child may not have made it.’

Some lifeboat shouts are demanding in a different way. Even a relatively straightforward tow can be challenging, perhaps lasting for hours. Courtmacsherry Harbour Mechanic Michael Hurley has been on the crew since 1977 and comments that, whatever transpires, crews need ‘a reasonable sense of humour’. Laughing binds the team together and helps its members cope in tough situations.

Lifesavers are also no strangers to gruesome accidents or even deaths at sea. One lifeguard recalls the day a swimmer was run over by a motorboat and killed by the propeller. He could do nothing but wait, holding the mangled body, until the police boat arrived.

Sea sense

Michael Hurley believes the recruits have essentially changed little in 30 years: ‘They are the usual mix of brilliant and useless seamen, drinkers and non, comedians and hard’uns.’ The basic skills needed by lifeboat crews are also the same as they always were. So, though a 19th century coxswain might be foxed by the controls on a 2008 lifeboat, their boathandling and ropework skills would still hold them in good stead. 

In previous generations, lifeboatmen (and they were all men until the 1960s) were likely to be local fishermen. Their seafaring experience gave them a firm grasp of seamanship and an intimate knowledge of the local area and tides – a feel for the sea. Today, many lifeguards have a similar bond with the sea, having the advantage of years spent getting to know and respect the sea, through surfing.

But only 10% of modern-day lifeboat volunteers have a professional maritime occupation, so in-depth training is essential. RNLI training ensures that all crew have a solid grounding in seamanship and sea survival. They also learn how to deal with the wide range of casualties that they will come across in this day and age.

St Ives Coxswain Tommy Cocking is the fifth generation of lifeboatman in his family. He knows that seagoing experience isn’t everything: ‘In a lifesaving situation a welltrained first aid crew member is of much more use at times than an experienced fisherman.’

Through years of serving the RNLI, lifesavers with no previous experience hone their skills and build up their own feel for the sea. They can in turn pass on their knowledge and skills to the younger lifesavers. Coxswain Joseph Murphy, who joined the Dunmore East crew 38 years ago, affirms that with the training and the mentoring of the more experienced volunteers ‘new crews are up to the task’.

No matter how experienced, lifesavers all benefit from a healthy respect for the sea. At Headquarters, Service Information Section Manager Brian Wead explains that over the years the best lifeboatmen and women have been ‘confident but not gung-ho’. He added ‘You can serve a whole lifetime at sea but it can still catch you out.’

Tenacity

Real-life rescues can be ‘textbook’, with crews using skills they’ve practised hundreds of times in training, but in exceptional services they can display both creativity and tenacity to save the day.

In one such rescue in 2002, a Silver Medal service by Eastbourne lifeboat crew, two sailors were in the water after their yacht capsized in gale force winds. Hayley Landon was hauled on deck, but her husband Pete was disappearing under the water. Instinctively, Mechanic Daniel Guy climbed over the lifeboat guardrails to grab Pete. Daniel trapped him between his legs and kept his head above water. It wasn’t a manoeuvre that can be found in any RNLI training manual, but it saved a life.

Trust

Such committed lifesavers have tremendous faith in each other; they must work as a team to stay safe in order to help others in peril. For years, they have followed the orders of their leader – coxswain, helm or senior lifeguard – without question. After a particularly treacherous and gruelling shout in 2006, Barra Island Second Mechanic Lachlan Douglas said of his Coxswain, Donald MacLeod: ‘If that man were going to hell and back in the boat, I’d be right behind him.’

If crews and lifeguards think they’re ‘just doing their job’, we know that their qualities are special – in 2008 just as in 1824. Past and current RNLI lifesavers go on to inspire future generations of lifeboat crews and lifeguards. They have also earned the absolute trust and support of seagoers and landlubbers alike. What they risk in putting life first should never be forgotten.