THE SEA is a beautiful but cruel and dangerous part of our planet. Its moods range from peacefully calm to angrily violent and no one can predict how it is going to act at any time of day or night. The sea is a place of deep danger and mystery and it holds an endless fascination for man. But sometimes man finds himself in great peril when he takes to the sea. Who is there to help him survive when the sea becomes a deadly threat?
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a British charity that saves lives at sea. Britain is surrounded by seas of many moods and the RNLI is on call 24 hours a day to provide search-and-rescue facilities for boats and ships in trouble.
The RNLI lifeboats cover an area 80 kilometres out from the coast all around the British Isles. There are more than 225 lifeboat stations dotted around the British coast and their lifeboats are launched more than 6,000 times every year and rescue on average 6,500 people in danger at sea.
Lifeboat stations and lifeboats are manned by highly trained volunteer crews, whose skill and dedication are second to none. The entire organisation relies on charity contributions and legacies for its income and all lifeboat staff give their services and their time for free. A local teacher may be a member of the lifeboat crew. When the emergency alarm sounds, he will leave his classroom and join the rest of the crew who come from all walks of life. They all have one thing in common. They are dedicated to saving lives at sea.
The RNLI was founded in 1824 by Sir William Hillary, a life boatman who had rescued many people from stormy seas. There were many individual lifeboat societies spread out around the coast of Britain, but Hillary was the person who brought them together as a national co-ordinated organisation. In the middle of the 19th century, shipping was increasing off the shores of Britain and there was an obvious need for an efficient rescue service.
At first, the British government gave the RNLI a grant to help it function and grow, but along with the money, ministers imposed rules and conditions that were unpopular with the volunteers who ran the lifeboat stations. In 1869, the RNLI organisers decided that it was better to run the institute on a completely charitable basis and it has kept this status right up to the present day.
