Busy bay

Swanage is really busy. I mean 'really' busy. On Sunday when in between the Red Arrows and the carnival procession there were more boats in the bay than I have ever seen before. Dave Corben sent me this photo just as proof. He made the point that it is actually rather unbelievable that we were called out to the dinghy. Surely one of these boats must have noticed that the inflatable was a drift?

Anoyingly I can't get this photo to attach, I'll try again later!

A new member of the family

Congratulations are due to the Corbens.

David and Marion finally became grandparents yesterday evening as a new young Corben (no name has been chosen yet) was born at Dorchester Maternity Hospital, weighing in at 8lb 15oz. Mother, father, son (and grandparents) are all doing well.

By all accounts Ant’s first aid training came in very handy (I have yet to discover all of the gory details)!

No doubt we will soon have a chance to get together and 'wet the babies head'. Congratulations to you all!

TDI

Thanks to Dave Corben for this smashing photo of our launch yesterday. Those of you with sharp eyesight will notice that the slender fella on the starboard quarter is wearing a drysuit rather than the normal ALB foulweather gear. In fact it's not one of our crew but is Tom Mansell, one of our divisional inspection staff. It is normal that when the inspecting staff are on the station they accompany the crew on any shouts that occur. This allows them to get a more realistic insight into how we operate as a crew than by merely coming on exercise with us. Incidentally since Howard's promotion into the 'ivory tower' Tom has been promoted into Howie's old job (at least I think it was a promotion). Well done Sir!

You've changed

Charles Bowley, a reader of this blog, mailed this week to say that he had a few photos of the day the Robert Charles Brown arrived on station. The pictures are superb and I will use some more this week. However, this one really caught my eye. This was the crew at the time. How things change! Only three remain as crew now (Martin, Robert and Jon Dear). Of the rest, some remain but in other roles (Dave Corben - DLA) while the rest are enjoying a gentle retirement. They all have significantly less hair and what there is is a more distinguished colour.

Of those who remain; Martin has now lost the slug-like appendage which was hanging on his upper lip in those days and Robert has now passed puberty and become a man!

Memory, all alone in the moonlight
I can dream of the old days
Life was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
(Babara Streisand)

Dulce et decorum est............

All supporters of Swanage Lifeboat will be sad to hear that Walt Bishop collapsed and died on Sunday the 19th of August. He was 75. Walt had a long and distinguished association with the Swanage Lifeboat, joining as a shore helper in 1966. In 1968 he became a crew member on the 41ft Watson class lifeboat 'RLP' and became bowman on the 'J Reginald Corah' when she arrived on station in 1975. Walt continued to serve until he stepped down from the crew in August 1981. During that time there were 707 launches, and 440 lives were saved. Instead of retiring, Walt became Head Launcher until November 1992, and after having to give up this post, he became a regular boathouse attendant, imparting to many thousands of visitors his stories of past rescues, in his own inimitable way. Walt was unique, one of the now 'rare breed' of old lifeboatmen. At all times he carried out his duties with great professionalism, but it was always accompanied with his own distinctive wicked sense of humour. He was a great man, and it was a immense privilege to have served with him on the crew. Our thoughts go out to his wife Ros, his daughters Diana and Susan, and to his grandchildren and other members of his family. (Words thanks to Dave Corben)

Mad world?

So. Your pager goes off. You drop whatever it is that you are doing and rush to the boathouse. You spend 2 minutes involved in the dressing up race that is getting ready to go out on a shout. And then you do nothing.........for about 20 minutes.

Why? Well, to start with we were going to go to attend a domestic situation which had occurred on a boat nearby. Reports were confused but seemed to involve a father and daughter, some violence, a lot of tears, calls to the police and a suspected heart attack. Not your usual lifeboat stuff. So just as we were ready to launch the police called to ask if we could wait to take them with us as they wanted to attend and also had a defibrillator. So we waited. And waited. And then a bit more waiting. So imagine our shocked amazement when they then arrived (having increased our response time by about 250% when there was a suspected heart attack)and told us that they couldn't come because they hadn't done a sea survival course! Flippin' Mad..........So we set off and went anyway.

As it turned out there was no heart attack and the situation had settled down a bit. Naturally the main talking point for the crew was the nonsense of the Police situation. In front of a very large crowd of by-standers they were made to look pretty pathetic in by their controllers. What a mad world.

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Mad World
Enlarging your world
Mad World.
(Tears for Fears)

When generations collide

Look carefully at this smashing photo (taken by Dave Corben this evening as we were waiting to launch on a shout) and you will spot the J.Reginald Corah in the background. She arrived yesterday evening skippered by Roger of course and looks to be in even better shape than last year. He certainly keeps a tight ship. As I was putting out to sea this evening to check my lobster pots I happened to spot him sitting on the bench outside of the angling club looking every bit as if he hadn't left since last year. Indeed, he has already done a handful of trips on our behalf. Welcome back Roger!

The shout this evening deserves a post all of it's own. Indeed, tired as I am perhaps I'll do just that.............something in the morning about what has to be the most weird and depressing shout ever.......a real window upon the human condition.

Goodnight.........

The family just got bigger

On Saturday afternoon our lifeboating family got a little bit bigger. Anthony Corben, son of ex-crewmember Dave (and his glorious wife Marion), finally tied the knot with his fiance Margaret.They were blessed with glorious weather which provided a day to remember. Sadly I was still trapped in Northern Spain so could not share the happy day with them.Still, by all accounts it was a fabulous day and a party to remember. Welcome to the club both of you and welcome to the family Margaret!

Romantic sponges, they say, do it
Oysters down in oyster bay do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love
(George & Ira Gershwin)

Quantum Leap

Looking at yesterdays pictures of the Robert Charles Brown and J. Reginald Corah alongside each other I was struck by the vast differences between the two boats. Going back a generation further this boat (Dave will surely be able to tell me her name) is in most ways very similar to a Rother class; similar hull shape, similar speed and similarly equipped. The leap in technology to the Mersey class was in many ways a quantum leap, the next jump to Fast Carriage Boat 2 (FCB2) is if anything even greater. Once again the speed has doubled, there are water jets, touchscreens, she can be joystick controlled.......the list goes on. Funny really, they all do the same job of saving lives at sea.

Update: I knew I could rely on Dave for the historical facts........

It is the RLP (short for Reginald Lional Pugh). It was a 41ft Watson class and was stationed at Swanage until 1975, when it was replaced with the J Reginald Corah. I can boast that it was the first lifeboat I served on, although thankfully I am not in the photo. Four of those pictured are still alive. Phil and Eric Dorey, Donald Dyke and 87 year old Ron Hardy (who was coxswain when I joined and is on the far left on the boat). RLP was a great sea boat, going through any heavy seas, but you always ended up cold and wet. It had a top speed of 7 knots. You youngsters don't know how lucky you are.

Dave Corben

(and who says old people suffer memory loss?.......well done Mr Corben!)

The reminiscences keep flooding in, Karina - lovely wife of Martin and daughter of ex cox'n Vic Marsh adds these thoughts:

Nice to see the old photo of the RLP, I think my Dad and uncle Reg are on the boat, my grandfather-Sid, is on the slip.
Sad to hear the news about the Corah, the boys (Gav & Matt)used to spend every Thursday helping dad lower the boat out to do the radio test, also a bit wistful as both Matt and then 21 years later Jack (Matt's son) were both christened on board her.Well, that's life.
keep up the good work with the scrapbook.
Karina x

Counter Intuition

I have heard it said that one should never trust an estate-agent. May I suggest that you might want to reconsider this advice if he happened to be the only thing standing between you and aquatic safety?

Anthony is the latest in a line of Corbens who have been both Lifeboatmen and, that rarest of rare, honourable and trustworthy estate-agents.

You may wish to spare a thought for Anthony's old man, Dave. He has recently emerged from a hospital visit where he had one of his major internal organs fiddled with (and who says estate-agents have no heart?) Get well soon Dave.