The RNLI and Lifeboat Day by Mary Reed One of thi s writer 's most e ndurin g memories of the time when she li ved in England is the measured tones of the BBC Radio announcer as he read the shipping forecast just before the 6PM news. The names were a roll -call of the sea: Hebrides, Rockall , Lundy, Fastnet, Shannon, Sole, Finisterre, Fair Isle, Cromarty, Dogger, Tyne, Dover, Portland ... and all of them of vital concern to men at sea. Even with these advance warnings, however, ships founder, and lifeboats must be launched. Incredibly , as recently as the eighteenth century, there were practically no coordinated efforts to save shipwrecked people (although lifeboats built specifically for the purpose existed) , and certai nly no national organization to carry out this work. Jn 1824, following the publication of "A n Appeal to the British Nation," by Sir William Hillary, who li ved on the Isle of Man and had himself helped rescue more than three hundred people, the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck was formed. It was organized on a pure ly voluntary basis, si nce it appeared that the government was ignoring the problem. In 1854 the name was changed to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution , by which title it is still known. At the same time, voluntary contributions having declined, the Institution was granted a Board of Trade subsidy. Eventually, as contributions increased, this subsidy was withdrawn and since then , the RNLI has been completely independent, supported entirely by gifts, and various fundrai sing efforts. A professional salaried staff oversees administration and the maintenance of the boats, but everyone e lseincluding the lifeboatmen and womendonate the ir services. A number of different fundraising events take place annually-a recent li st included parachute jumps, rowing relays and a fancy dress football marathon ; cheese and wine parties; and a race to get crates of Nouveau Broon ale from Newcastle-on-Tyne, where it is brewed, to Paris. One man even allowed people to use hi s shaved head as a notepad! But the best known of thelnstitution 's fund raising efforts are their Flag Days, whose roots are in the first street collection for charity ever organized. The story of how this came about hinges upon what is regarded as the worst disaster in the hi story of the Institution. On December 9th, 1886 the German SEA HISTORY 52, WINTER 1989-90
Above , a steam lifeboat of 1897 which served New BrightO'f until 1924. At right , a present-day 47 ft Tyne class lifeboat. Photos courtesy the RNLI.
bark Mexico was wrecked in the Ribble Estuary on the northwest coast of England. From Lytham, the I ifeboa t Charles Biggs was launched, along with the Laura Janet from St. Annes and the Eliza F ern ly from Southport-each unaware of the others' presence, as communications were very rudimentary at the time. It was the Charles Biggs that rescued the crew of Mexico, but the crews of the other lifeboats didn ' t fare so well. Eliza Fernley capsized and all but two of her crew were lost. What happened to the crew of the laura Janet has never been firmly establi shed. The weather had been so bad all night that it was not until the following day that it was rea li zed that the laura Janet was still out, at which point the Lytham crew (many of whom had relatives on the missing boat) went out to look for her. During the search they visited Southport Pier, where they learned about the loss of most of the Eliza Fernley's crew , and it was from the pier that someone spotted a white shape out in the estuary. It proved to be the mi ss ing Laura Jan et, with three bodies trapped beneath it. The rest of the crew were found washed up on shore. Of the forty-four men who had gone out to rescue the Mexico, twenty-seven died, leav ing sixteen widows with fifty children between them. A disaster fund was set up for the widows and orphans, eventually totalling some ÂŁ50,000. Charles Macara, a member of the town 's lifeboat committee, realized that the Institution ' s fundraising had depended largely upon a wealthy few. He decided to bring lifeboats to the attention of the ordinary person, and in October 1891 , he organized the first
"Lifeboat Saturday" held in Manchester. On that day, lifeboats from St. Annes and Southport were pulled through the streets and collectors wen¡t around, some carrying purses on poles in order to reach people looking out of windows. This is sa id to have been the first such street-co llection , an idea which has since been adapted by many charities. Today collectors carry lifeboatshaped boxes. Originally they distributed small lifeboat-shaped lapel badges in return for contributions. Nowadays, stickers of the same shape are distributed t-o donors. Lifeboat days and weeks vary from ci ty to city--coastal resorts tend to hold theirs in the summer when there are a lot of visitors , and inland cities have theirs in the winter. The most important one by far is the London collection , which takes place in the middle of March each year. Today there are 263 lifeboats on station with RNLI, and another IOI boats in the Institution 's reserve fleet. In 1988 RNLI lifeboats were launched 4224 times, on average about eleven a day. And in that year 1,343 lives were saved, bringing to over 118 ,000 those rescued since the Insti tution was founded in 1824. Thanks to ga llant men and women of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, those who venture on the sea and encounter di saster close to shore can be helped whenever the melancholy need for it should arise. w
Ms . Reed was born in Newcastle-onTyne and is currently living in the USA . Those wishing to help the RNLI should contact the Director, RNLI, West Quay Rd., Poole, Dorset BH15 1 HZ, UK. 11