There's fury in the tempest,<br />And there's madness in the waves;<br />The lightning snake coils round the foam,<br />The headlong thunder raves;<br />Yet a boat is on the waters,<br />Filled with Britain's daring sons,<br />Who pull like lions out to sea,<br />And count the minute guns.<br />(from The Boatmen of the Downs by Eliza Cook)<br />Rescue attempts to save the lives of stranded and imperilled sailors and seafarers have undoubtedly been occurring ever since the very first time that man sailed on a floating object away from the safety of the shore and out onto the wild and unpredictable seas of the world.<br />In Great Britain, it was not until the 1780s that the first proper lifeboat was designed and built which saw service at Bamborough in Northumberland. Through the efforts of private benefactors and voluntary subscriptions more lifeboats were commissioned and stationed at strategic points around the coast and in 1824 the forerunner of today’s Royal National Lifeboat Insti
