Just watching this...

made my stomach churn!

This is Thurso lifeboat out on a shout rescuing a broken down crabbing boat in force 7 - 8 winds. I would imagine that they would have had a fairly bouncy trip out to the casualty followed by a lot of wallowing about trying to connect the tow and then a long slow passage home. Well done lads.

Tower

I've just had this short YouTube clip brought to my attention. It shows Tower Lifeboat conducting a 'textbook' rescue of a swimmer in the water. You can't see her face but I got a definite sense that she was somewhat relieved! Well done guys (and girls). I say girls because good friend of Swanage crew, Jen Court, previously one of the trainers at the Lifeboat College, is now one of the full time crew at the station. I wonder is she was involved in this rescue?



Incidentally, Tower and the other Thames lifeboat stations (except Teddington), are unique among RNLI stations in that they have a greater number of full-time crew than normal. This is because they have a far shorter response time (90 seconds) due to the majority of their shouts involving people in the water. Thus their station is fully manned 24 hours a day 7 days a week with one full time crewmember and two volunteers.

Home from Home

So on my trip up north last week I did my usual and visited any lifeboat stations which I happened to be passing. This first photo is North Berwick which is a charming seaside town on the southern side of the Firth of Forth. It has a tiny harbour but the ILB stationed here is launched from this boathouse, across the road and then down a slip onto the beach with a tractor. Unfortunately the boathouse was locked so I had no opportunity to look in.

Although the station was originally opened in 1860 it was closed in 1925. It was re-opened in 1967 when a 'D'class boat was stationed there. In 1991 the original boathouse was re-purchased by the RNLI and then extended to accommodate the tractor. Their ILB was one of the boats provided by Blue Peter from one of their appeals in 1993.



Further down the coast I popped in to visit the pretty town of St Abbs. There has been a lifeboat station here since 1911. The boathouse was built in 1915 and has since housed a variety of boats including rowing boats, an Oakley, a Waveney and 'D', 'C' and now a 'B' class. The boathouse is without doubt the dominant feature of the town and the harbour and provides an impressive view.



Further down the coast I stopped in Eyemouth but couldn't quite reach the station as I was somewhat trapped on the other side of the harbour. They operate a Trent class lifeboat which sits afloat next to their relatively new shore facility.

Let me be the one that you turn to
Someone you can rely on
Closer each day
Home and away
(Home and Away theme)

Holidays

No sooner back from Scotland and North Yorkshire than I am away again (the Solent sailing this time with a school expedition). Many thanks to Nick for keeping things going in my absence, excellent work! Becky has agreed to post a few thoughts this week then we are back to normal next week.

The picture by the way is the recently completed boathouse in Whitby harbour. It is a superb building, mounted on stilts and built in the local materials of sandstone, brick and red pantiles. It's been carefully designed to blend into the harbour scene and I think it does this superbly. It looks awesome and will no doubt serve Whitby well for many years to come.

Barmouth Lifeboat

This is Barmouth Lifeboat station. It was re-built on this new site about 4 years ago due to problems with their afloat Mersey drying out at low water making it impossible to launch. It was decided that they would be better able to guarantee being able to launch 24/7 if they had a boat which was carriage launched rather than on a mooring. At the same time it was decided to provide a boathouse to store it in along with room for changing, training and administration. The result is this truly magnificent structure in the most prominent position possible on Barmouth seafront.

I remember watching it being built and marvelling at the foundations which were made largely from what looked like polystyrene; necessary due to it being built on sand dunes.

Inside they have exactly the same classes of lifeboats as us (Mersey and IB1) but also a truly impressive array of launching equipment. First up is this New Holland tractor for launching the ILB and keeping the slip clear of sand.

Then next door in the ALB shed is this magnificent creature.......a Talus tractor. This 'go-anywhere' machine can not only drag a huge lifeboat and carriage over soft sand, it can also drive it into the sea until it is entirely submerged. Awesome!

Needless to say I'm jealous. Those boys in Barmouth must have thought all their Christmases had come at once when all this new kit arrived?

The youth of today..........

Plucky Weymouth teenager Seb Green is about to walk around the coast of Britain. The 18-year-old will spend nearly a year walking 5,821 miles (9,367km) with his border collie dog, Flash. He's going to do this to 'give something back' after his foolish actions 3 years ago when he and a friend took a boat for a joyride in Portland harbour but became trapped in mud in the Fleet and had to be rescued by coastguards, two helicopters and a couple of lifeboats. Part of Seb's mission will involve raising awareness of sea safety for the RNLI and giving talks to youngsters.

Seb admitted: "It was a very stupid thing to do. At the time I felt extremely guilty but as time has moved on the sense of guilt has faded because I am now planning to repay the community for the money I wasted and repay some of the money it cost to rescue me."

You can find out more here.

(Photo: Martin Singer)

There but for the grace..........

It would have been hard to have missed the stories in the press last week of vessels aground at various locations around the British Coastline. Sadly one of these vessels was one of our own, the Severn class Portrush Lifeboat. It looks likely that she will end up a total write off having suffered significant hull damage after several days worth of pounding at the mercy of the pretty ferocious weather.

And that is the problem with lifeboating. You go out there at the very moment when everyone else is running for cover. Often you are required to get close in to the cliffs, rocks or reefs. Taking risks to save the lives of others. By the law of averages this doesn't always have a happy outcome. Luckily on this occasion no one was badly injured and no lives were lost. The crew will be struggling to come to terms with this difficult loss. My thoughts are with them.

Once in your career

It's funny sometimes how life can pass you by when you take your eye off the ball. Although at home all day yesterday with a poorly daughter, and aware of the grim weather, I failed to notice the news that Torbay and Salcombe Lifeboats were at sea conducting a truly impressive rescue in gale force 8 winds and 5m seas.

Called at 7.30 on Sunday evening the rescue was carried out by Torbay lifeboat in the dark. Overall 30 or 40 attempts to come alongside were made before all of the 8 crewmembers were recovered. In the words of the Spencer Gammond from the RNLI, the lifeboat crews operated "at the very limit" to evacuate the ship. I'm damn sure they did. Well done lads.

Thankfully the lifeboat was undamaged and nobody from either crew or the Ice Prince was injured. In itself a miracle given the no-existent margin for error and safety in a rescue such as this.

The Ice prince has subsequently sunk but remains a danger to shipping.

(Photo: from Torbay station website)

Holidays

So, what does a lifeboatman do while on holiday? Well, as it happens, last week I was in Yorkshire (my childhood home) visiting my family. Whilst there I went on several walks with the kids, one to Runswick Bay and one to Staithes. both of them are small fishing villages, Staithes is now part fishing village and part holiday village and part dormitory for Teeside. Runswick is now almost entirely a holiday village with almost no full time residents. Very sad.At 4 a.m. on 1st July, 1978, the people of Runswick Bay stood on the beach to watch their lifeboat put to sea for the last time. After 112 years’ of service to fishermen, sailors and holidaymakers, an era had come to an end. Ultimately it had become too hard to crew the boat with the number of able bodied men available in the village.

The first lifeboat, The Sheffield, had come to Runswick in 1866 and was manned by a crew who had to be able to row for miles in stormy sea. The launching of the boat was a feat in itself: the children placed lanterns on the beach to mark the way then the boat was pushed on rollers to the sea edge by anyone available to help.

Perhaps the most famous rescue occurred in 1901. The men had done out to fish in calm weather but a gale blew up. The lifeboat was needed but the crew and most of the launchers were at sea, so in spite of the harsh weather and strength required, the women and old men of the village launched the boat and stood by until the cobles were safely in.After its withdrawal a new station was opened in Staithes, the next village along the coast (in fact there had previously been a pulling lifeboat here so the station was actually re-opened). As a nod to the sensitivities of the Runswick residents it was named the 'Staithes and Runswick' lifeboat station. Today the RNLI operate an Atlantic class lifeboat from Staithes.

The loss of the Runswick lifeboat, while grounded on sound principles, left many people in Runswick feeling there remained a need for an immediately responsive facility within the village. The number of potential rescue situations, which were invariably “nipped in the bud” by village boatmen, often at some risk to themselves and their boats, reinforced this view. So in 1982 the people of Runswick provided their own craft to go to the aid of locals and holidaymakers. This is now housed in the old tractor shed alongside the lifeboatstation. Meanwhile the lifeboat station itself has become a store for fishing gear and a makeshift holiday cottage. This facility is now known as the 'Runswick Bay Rescue Boat' and each year provides a valuable service to those people in their boats in the bay.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Well, Merry Christmas everybody from all of us here at Swanage Lifeboat. Thanks for all of your support over the last year. Thanks for coming to read this, for letting us have your comments and for all of the kind messages you have sent. Spare a thought though for those crew at Poole, Fowey and Amble who have all launched within the last 24 hours. Lets hope that they are now safely tucked up in their homes enjoying some Christmas cheer.

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
(Henry W Longfellow)

Winter solstice

They say you learn something new everyday. Today is the winter solstice, I couldn't remember whether it was the 21st or 22nd of Dec and that's because it changes! Have a look on Wikipedia for more info.

Anyway today is my last day in charge of John's blog and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your comments and Christmas wishes, to thank you for your interest and support of the RNLI and Swanage Lifeboat Station and to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I seem to remember a comment on here a while back asking whether boat windscreens ever need de-icing . . . I think this might answer that question.

This is Fraserburgh Lifeboat on her mooring, perhaps our crew will realise how lucky we are to keep our boats inside out of the weather!

Over to you John . . . .

Whitstable Lifeboat Capsize

This is old footage but gives some idea of how nasty a capsize can be. Very shortly afterwards both the boat and all 3 crew were washed up ashore. No time at all for the righting and re-starting of the engines.

Apparently this was not a result of crew error. The boat launched into ferocious conditions with particularly steep waves. Because all of the weight in the boat is at the back (engines), when it takes off from a wave it will immediately pendulum with the bow as the centre of rotation. Thus the boat has a tendency to take off then become more vertical in flight (you can see this happen in the clip)! Two ways to counteract this are to either keep the boat stuck to the water or fill a bow tank with water ballast. I understand that at this time it was routine to launch with an empty tank and fill it as required. I believe that since this incident Atlantic class boats now launch with their bow ballast tanks full as a matter of routine. I'm sure Dave or John can clarify this.........

Taken from the Whitstable Lifeboat website:
On Sunday 3rd January 1999, the Atlantic 21 class lifeboat "British Diver" launched to assist a number of angling dinghies off Herne Bay, which had been caught out by a sudden deterioration in the weather. The lifeboat was under the command of Helmsman Mike Judge, with crew members Paul Kemp and Andy Williams.

About 100 yards after leaving the carriage, the lifeboat encountered a series of steep breaking waves, the last of which capsized the boat bow over stern. The righting bag was deployed, but the boat was washed ashore to the east of the harbour before the crew had a chance to reboard. None of the crew was badly hurt, and the angling dinghies were eventually assisted by the Sheerness Lifeboat.

PIRS

One of the particularly enjoyable parts of blogging is receiving comments from people. I know that many people read this daily but sometimes it can be rather like working in a void.........you talk lots but get no response! So I was delighted last night to get a comment from the legendary Dr Douglas Wilcox; sea kayaking photography guru. He had read the post about capsizing 'D' class lifeboats and had a few questions. I'll try to answer them:

Douglas noted that capsizing at night sounds horrendous. I wouldn't know, I've never done it, and hope it never happens, but he's quite probably right. It's pretty disorientating to be under a capsized boat by day, I can only imagine it would be worse at night. The already small space between the upturned hull and the sea becomes more confined as the padded mat falls from the floor onto your heads. You struggle to find the handheld, flares and rope in the dark confined space. Yep, I think you're spot on Douglas...........horrendous by night! Incidentally, in the new wave pool at the training college in Poole, crews can practise this in a simulated environment which has darkness, waves, thunder, lightening, wind, rain and cold. It's so realistic that many people get seriously sea-sick in there. Wenley has posted a 'youtube' film on his blog which gives you an idea of what this might be like, have a look here.

Douglas also asked about the procedure for restarting the engine. To be honest it is surprisingly reliable and simple, just time consuming. The system is different for the old 40hp mariner engines on 'D'class boats and the 50 hp on the new IB1s.

On the older 40hp the instructions are on the inside of the engine lid, they read: Step 1, remove lid! There then follows a sequence (which I can't remember) involving removing the plugs, pulling the engine over by hand, replacing the plugs with new ones, pulling it over some more, then trying to re-start it. Generally it works.

On the IB1 the 50 hp is fitted with a 'PIRS' (post inversion recovery system), this simplifies things. Again, I honestly don't remember the system but think it involves pulling out a lever, removing the fuel lead, turning it over (using battery) for a while, replacing fuel lead and trying to start it. This always works. I can't remember if the plugs need replacing but I suspect they might.

As for Douglas's question about how many capsize, I'm afraid I don't know but I will try to find out. I suspect that it is not that many as there is an upper operating limit for the 'D'class. I also have a feeling that as many happen in training as on shouts. I would imagine that most happen in surf and not in horrendous rough weather. I will try to clear this one up............

I guessed that Dave our mechanic might have read this and had something to add, he's now done this so for extra details read the comments below. He's right too, it's a long time now since I've been in our IB1, I will find an opportunity to rectify this soon.

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old

When the war was declared on the 3rd September 1939, the lifeboat service was 115 years old and had just experienced it's busiest year yet. The men who manned its fleet knew the dangers of the coast and sea in time of peace, as these were the perils of their work.

It is the tradition of the service that if there is not one man to do the job there will be another. As the young crews headed off to war their place was taken by the old and the very young. In Whitby one morning an fighter crashed into the sea, the regular crew were not their so the boat launched with a Coxswain of 71, second Cox of 60 and a crew of five boys aged 16. 20 minutes later 4 airmen were rescued from the sea. And this was the story of the boats around the coast.

I don't know how many times the boats launched during the war, how many were saved, or how many crew went to war never to return. But I do know this. They persevered and continued to follow their calling despite the dangers and are an example to us all. To quote the the Admiralty:

Without fear or thought of self, the lifeboatmen have never spared their strength and skill in helping brother sailors in distress from the dangers of the sea and the violence of the enemy.

We will remember them..........

Flankers

On Sunday we had a surprise visit from the crew of our Flank station in Poole. These lads rarely get out of the harbour so for them it is a real treat to sail on the wide open sea. They claimed to need to have a good run to drain their reserve diesel tank. I recon they just wanted to come our way to nick some of our shouts (not that we would notice at then moment)! Anyway, as ever it was a delight to see them and share a cup of coffee over a few 'dits'.

We sail the ocean blue,
And our saucy ship's a beauty;
We're sober men and true,
And attentive to our duty.
When the balls whistle free
O'er the bright blue sea,
We stand to our guns all day;
When at anchor we ride
On the Portsmouth tide,
We have plenty of time to play.
(Gilbert & Sullivan)

MSC Napoli

It would seem that no sooner had the danger finished than the farce began. The MSC Napoli story has continued over the weekend and taken a comic twist:

The drifting vessel was being towed to nearby Portland Harbour, but the MCA decided to beach it in Lyme Bay, near Sidmouth, instead, following the structural failure (large gashes in the stern). It is now firmly aground but rolling around. Two French coastguard tugs are holding the ship in place. Chris Lawson of the Environment Agency said containers holding the most hazardous substances, such as pesticides, were in the cargo hold of the boat and because of this there was "very little risk" of them leaking just now. However, more that 50 40ft long containers have gone missing including one containing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of BMW motorbikes!

Remembering that the Men of Devon and Cornwall have wrecking in their blood this is clearly going to be a temptation too far. Indeed it reminds me of a classic folksong of 'Vin Garbutt's' from the north-east, the story bears re-telling:

The MSC Concorde was passaging from Teeside to Amsterdam with a full load of containers. One fell over the side containing a load of designer clothes, Super Mario 'T' Shirts and underpants. Once the container split open, the beaches from Tesside south to Runswick Bay were littered with the goods and public order was strained as people came from far and wide to get their hands on the booty. The song is called 'Fell of the Back of a Boat'

"In Loftus near Saltburn, one wintry windy day
A vessel bound for Amsterdam came sailing from Tees Bay,
Bedecked with fine designer clothes, she soon became a joke
The string holding the cargo down got damp and then it broke.

There were T-shirts for the husband
and sweatshirts for the wife
and every kid in Skinningrove has underwear for life

A great big steel container fell over the side.
It hit the rocks at Hummersea that smashed it open wide.
The treasure it was holding was spewn into the brine.
Some of it washed out to sea but most of it's now mine."
(Vin Garbutt)

Salvage

Salvage is rarely if ever claimed by the RNLI or its crews. The institution exists to save lives at sea and as a result has traditionally given preference in the matter of salvage to private enterprise. However, this has not always meant that salvage has not been claimed. In the early years of the Institution the following statement was given by the Management Committee:

"......it is considered that such an arrangement (salvage) cannot but be beneficial to all parties:-the owners or insurers of a valuable ship and cargo are fortunate in having their property saved at a small percentage-the crew of the Life-boat, always poor men, receive a handsome payment, calculated to increase their attachment to the Life-boat service-whilst the Institution obtains a sufficient amount to cover the risk of damage to its boat."

However, the Institution had very firm rules regarding salvage. In 1883 these were transgressed by the crew of the Eastbourne lifeboat after they had rescued eleven sailors from the barque 'New Brunswick'. Despite receiving a significant bounty for the rescue, they insisted on claiming salvage in contravention of the RNLI's rules. How were they rewarded for this persistence? Well, they received £105 (£15 more than the bounty offered) and were all dismissed from the service. Mental note to self........

The RNLI felt strongly about this matter because they rightly felt that once word got around that lifeboat crews were more interested in money than saving life, the reputation of the Institution would be severely tarnished. I agree.

And relax

Inevitably day follows night, summer follows spring, after war comes peace and the pope tends to be a Catholic. In this certain way so calm follows the storm. Yesterday Britain was battered by storms. Fearsome winds, torrential rain and high seas all conspired to cause utter devastation and in some tragic cases, death.

This morning, Rob McElwee, of the BBC Weather Centre, said the storm passed into Germany overnight leaving sunshine and some rain expected in the UK. And this certainly seemed to be the case in Swanage this morning, the sea was calm, the skies bright with superb visibility. A time for reflection and thought, of what was and what might have been.


I mentioned that Lizard lifeboat had been involved with the Napoli shout yesterday. I’ve since found out that Falmouth was also involved and have managed to get some more details and pictures. Their All Weather Lifeboat left its berth at 13:00 and set course for the casualties position 48 miles SSE of Falmouth. The lifeboat was able to maintain an average speed of 20knots in the poor prevailing weather conditions, thanks to the outstanding design capabilities of the Severn Class lifeboat. They were stood down when only half way there, on this occasion their services were not needed but they were there, ready as ever.

You say you'll give me
Eyes in a moon of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbour in the tempest
But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
(U2)

Definition of relief?

I guess seeing these guys appear out of the gloom after you have had to abandon ship and take to your lifeboat in severe weather 50 miles from the nearest shore has to come close to a perfect definition.

French and British helicopters, tugs and lifeboats (lizard lifeboat) were en route to the scene 50 miles southeast of Lizard point this afternoon. After the container ship 'Napoli' got into difficulties and began to list with a dangerous cargo on board. Storm force waves had whipped up 9-metre waves and winds were gusting up to 80 miles per hour. In a classic understatement a Coastguard spokesman said: "It's very bad weather out there at the moment which is obviously going to make things difficult", hmm, difficult? Yes, perhaps just a bit.

Luckily all is well and in a large combined search and rescue operation things have panned out well. Thank God.....

Searching in vain

Imagine the misery of standing on the deck of a lifeboat in desperate weather; Searching without cease for signs of life in the tossing swell. As lifeboat crew we have all been there, sometimes for 1/2 an hour and sometimes for a day at a time. Believe me it is soul destroying: Fifteen minutes and you are loosing efficiency, half an hour you're beaten. And yet we carry on. I spur myself on by imagining it is one of my loved ones out there, it certainly helps one to focus on the vitality of the task. Yet often we search in vain..........none more vain than Weymouth's search last week. A hoax call. Some one's idea of a sick joke.

Ha, bloody, ha.

I am deep in the heart of a storm rolling sea
A hundred miles from safety on the shore
But lost in you're arms that's where I should be
Rescue me and I'll sail no more
Show of Hands