The Lifeboat Service

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Had my Xmas yesterday.
When I first came to Aus Burns Philips ran passenger ships around the Aussie coast. And you are right John That former member Quatermain lived up by Vernon, passed away a few years ago, I think he worked for Burns Philips.
Des

[j.sabourn]

#31 The info. He provided Des was on another passed on friend not a seaman however. Whose name was Alexander Cooper a very world wiseman whose father had been Governor General or something similar prior to WW 11 to Singapore . Alex started his career with Imperial Airways the fore runner of British. Airways , and finished up as head accountant for Singapore Airways ,came off the beaches at Dunkirk as a soldier and out of the army as a bird colonel in 1946 , but would never talk about those stories , however his civilian life stationed in various parts. Of the world could well keep up with seamen’s yarns which we often did over a bottle of whiskey at times . Richard having been also stationed in Singapore knew more about his. Background than I did. Seamen although a hard life at Times one did get to meet interesting people. Did you find your Apple and orange in your stocking this morning,? I’m still looking for mine. At least the Suns shining here . All the best. JS

[William Bramhill]

If anyone is feeling generous this evening, there is a crowdfunder to raise money for an RNLI hovercraft and name it The Flying Farage. Link here. It's nearly on £213,000.

[Martin Collier]

The Only Charity(?) I have, and will continue to donate to. Volunteers.
I no longer live by the sea and am probably too old @ 62 to volunteer. If I could...
M

[j.sabourn]

#34 Martin don’t decry yourself at 62. In around the years of 1988 I sailed with many of a similar age engaged in similar types of vessels in the North Sea . At that time I often heard that 35 years of age was the maximum in frc s due to the muscle and spine tensions on the back muscles of older persons. I never saw this in writing so was never enforced but if it had of been there would of been a big layup of the stand by boats . Another so called regulation if it existed a blind eye turned to , for the good of the industry. A lot of the stand by crews were middle aged and older blokes just too keen to get back to sea rather than the dole. To get crews for these vessels I have seen the office staff trolling the pubs looking for crews, and can remember 1 who didn’t even know where he was when he came to at sea. When people extol safety practices they usually do so for their own consciences. This was also during the big clean out of drink on board ships , which I always saw as a manageable ships problem and not some snotty nosed office boy. 62 was not too old in my days at sea . I have sailed with 80 year old ships carpenters who could leave a 30 year old standing. Cheers JS

[Peter Gill]

RNLI ALB retirement age is 65 these days - to comply with UK employment legislation. For inshore/fast Ribs it's 55 for health and safety reasons. I was Lifeboat Ops Manager for the st Peter Port station for fifteen years or so and made it a policy to always be on hand when the boys returned from a shout. I did this for several reasons, one to find out what had actually happened, two to see how they had dealt with it - both physically and mentally, and also to learn about the crew interactions and lastly to be able to speak to the media from a position of knowledge , not that this meant telling them everything as what goes on the boat stays on the boat.
On one occasion we had a first timer crew member, the callout was for a person believed lost on the cliffs. The crew eventually found a body in a cave. They reported to the police who were also searching and who insisted that they could not be certain of death - and required them to do mouth to mouth resuscitation. The condition of the individual was such that confirmation of death was more of a procedural matter than that of medical judgement. On return th the station, the first timer sat quietly to one side, still tired and coming to terms with the experience. I told him that had we suspected that the outcome would have been as he had experienced, he probably would not have been selected for the shout. He was more upset at this than with what he had seen - and commented that he felt it was better to get such an event out of the way early. He has turned out to be one of the best crew members we have.
I only ever went out on the boat in anger a handful of times, more for familiarity than anything else, but I never failed to be amazed as to how cool, calm and collected they all were when under the greatest pressure and put much of it down to the sheer amount of training required and undertaken. Hats off to all lifeboat men (and women). Save the folks in trouble and let others deal with the politics and such like.
Oh, and only turn back for home when the fuel gauge says so.

[j.sabourn]

#36 Peter you are 100% correct in what happens on a a boat or ship stays on a boat or a ship.. However after 20 years I wrote an account of July 6th. 1988 as this is a seamans site and believe seamen should be able to see more of the truth than put out by media efforts in good faith or not.However my account is much trimmed down to avoid embarrassment to some and not make waves for future historians to have a feast on. A first tripper in the frc off the SBV said to the coxn of the boat as I dropped the boat into the water from the bridge! “ God is it like this every night” ? His reply “ No of course not , just every second night”. I still find that funny today nearly 33 years later , which is the only funny thing about what happened that night. The reason for there being 4 in the boat was because one hour before the emergency I found out one of the coxns I had replaced at sea was due to a domestic dispute on board. Involving the ladies ashore , and the one left on board I was worried about his mental health.also ,if he lost the head. There would be 3 of them to handle him. This is and was private and not for any rag. Of a paper to print . The same person is now dead and went to an earlier grave Than usual , he was also a good shipmate .when people die like some did it is better to keep ones own council. As otherwise may cause strife to others..
Cheers JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI Martin,
At 70 I was working on a ferry in Sydney which included over the side painting on a stage I had to set up by myself, now at going on 91 my granddaughter thinks I should be studying for a ticket for the Sydney Hobart race, as she bought me a book, Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen by Mary Blewitt for Xmas, maybe they want a good man at the tiller. It looks all Chinese to me.
Cheers Des

[j.sabourn]

Why not Des ? Tell her to buy or find you a modern almanac , Nories tables , and an old sextant , and a good timekeeper or chronometer. , and off you go. Sydney to Hobart is almost coasting to deep sea people , if you do get lost just rememberer the formula. Or write it down Hav ZX equals Hav LHA Cos Lat. Cos Dec +(Hav lat diff dec.) Read the book you might be a bit late in getting there , but you’ll make it. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

#39 Much cheaper however Des just use your mobile phone to see where you are . JS