The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is celebrating its 200th anniversary. The RNLI has released this nostalgic tribute to the service of its volunteers.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music plays]
00:12 The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded by Sir William Hillary in 1824.
00:17 Not only was he the founder, but three times he won the gold medal for gallantry for saving life at sea.
00:23 The history of our lifeboat service is rich in stories of dangerous and gallant rescues by the fine, brave men
00:32 who through the years have maintained the great tradition of the service.
00:36 Many are the decorations that have been awarded to these intrepid seamen.
00:39 And so high is the standard by which their gallant deeds are judged,
00:43 that the coveted gold medal for conspicuous gallantry has been awarded only 127 times since the foundation of the institution,
00:51 an average of just once a year.
00:54 There are lifeboats all around our coasts at 154 different stations.
01:00 [Music plays]
01:08 As soon as the maroon sounds, each member of the crew, and they are all volunteers, leaves his normal employment immediately.
01:16 At any time, day or night, the call may come.
01:19 And when it does, it's all hands to the lifeboat host to get the boat away.
01:24 [Music plays]
01:29 The lifeboat plunges into the sea with a great splash.
01:32 [Sound of lifeboat splashing]
01:38 Her bows go right under, but soon she rides clear as the water rushes away through the scuppers.
01:44 [Music plays]
01:46 This is one of our most modern lifeboats.
01:48 It has twin screw diesel engines, a receiving and transmitting radio, a line throwing pistol, and a loud hailer with a range of 500 yards.
01:57 In the early days, they were very different.
02:00 The first lifeboat, the original, an open rowing boat, was given its special buoyancy by cork floats.
02:07 The early lifeboats, of course, had neither engines nor sails.
02:11 They depended on the strength of the men at the oars.
02:14 Boats were put out in the teeth of any gale, tossed like corks by stormy seas,
02:19 as the courage and endurance of the oarsmen urged her towards the ship she had gone to rescue.
02:25 This is the very last of the old pulling lifeboats still in service.
02:29 And soon the sight of a lifeboat being rowed back in the calm water of a harbour,
02:34 with the rhythm of a boat race crew, will be only a gallant memory.
02:38 (background music playing)
02:59 About the middle of last century, sails were added to assist the men at the oars.
03:04 But they could only be used if the weather was favourable, and the sails were always furled on approaching a ship in danger.
03:10 It was still the oars which brought the lifeboat alongside.
03:14 (background music playing)
03:20 Nearly 50 years ago, the first motor lifeboats were built, and sails were still kept as auxiliary parts.
03:27 (background music playing)
03:34 In the old days, the lifeboat was often hauled by hand through the narrow streets to the sea.
03:40 Sometimes half the population turned out to help the launch.
03:44 (background music playing)
03:47 And today...
03:49 (background music playing)
03:58 Our fine modern lifeboats, with their powerful engines and all the equipment that science has given them,
04:03 are an outstanding example and can sink.
04:07 But, like everything else, they cost three times as much as they did in 1939.
04:13 So, please give generously on Lifeboat Day to save life at sea.
04:21 [BLANK_AUDIO]