Lifeboat Service In …

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was established in 1824, and has a long and proud tradition of saving life at sea; nowhere is this more evident than in the south-east of England. The lifeboats and lifeboat crews from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent have been involved in some of the most dramatic, courageous and daring rescues in the history of the RNLI, and this book provides details of all the famous rescues and the work of the lifeboats in the South East. The RNLI currently operates twenty-seven lifeboat stations in the south-east of England, and this comprehensive book has details of every one, with information about their history, rescues and current lifeboats. It also includes details of old stations that have been closed, as well as the four new lifeboat stations operating on the River Thames. Author Nicholas Leach has amassed a wealth of information about the lifeboats and lifeboat stations of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent, past and present, visiting everyone to provide a complete and up-to-date record of life-saving in the seas off East Anglia, the Thames Estuary and the Dover Straits.

For the past two hundred years, lifeboats have been stationed around the coasts of Britain and Ireland, ready to rescue the shipwrecked. In times past, shipwrecks were much more common and there was little provision to help those stranded at sea. Places such as the west coast of Ireland would see hundreds of wrecks per year, from small sailing vessels to large steamers. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, volunteer lifeboats began to be stationed around the coast in the most dangerous areas and soon, the Royal National Lifeboat Association began to provide new stations and lifeboats. With the introduction of these lifeboats around the coast, many lives have been saved over the intervening two centuries. Ireland has seen more than its fair share of wrecks because of its location, with many vessels foundering after a tortuous journey across the Atlantic, as well as costal traders lost in storms or accident. War has played a part too, with the western Approaches being the graveyard of many a torpedoed or mined vessel. Nicholas Leach tells the story of each Irish lifeboat station, both north and south, using photographs of the lifeboats, houses and rescues. His book provides a valuable record of two centuries of lifesaving along the Irish coast

The history of the lifeboat service in Scotland is one of outstanding bravery and tragedy. Bravery, exemplified in the Gold medal-winning rescues by the Peterhead lifeboat in 1942 and Lerwick lifeboat in 1997. And tragedy, when lifeboat men gave their lives at Arbroath, Fraserburgh, Longhope and elsewhere to help others in distress. Scotland's lifeboat men and women have displayed courage, dedication to duty and a willingness to help seafarers since the early years of the nineteenth century. This comprehensive new book looks in detail at the work of the lifeboat stations in Scotland past and present. The RNLI currently operates forty-seven stations in Scotland and this volume contains details of every one, with information about their history, rescues and current lifeboats. Author Nicholas Leach has amassed a wealth of information about Scotland's lifeboats and lifeboat stations, past and present, visiting every one of the country's lifeboat stations to provide a complete and up-to-date record of life-saving in the seas off the rugged and beautiful, but often treacherous, Scottish coast.