Subject: BS: Irish lifeboats From: weerover Date: 01 Sep 06 - 03:51 PM When in Ireland I've noticed that their lifeboats have the same livery and crest as in the UK, that is R.N.L.I., with the "R" standing for "Royal". Given the effort that went into gaining independence, why is this? I'm guessing it remained after independence (like the Irish rugby team), perhaps because of economies of scale or because they "share" the Irish Sea/ wr |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Les from Hull Date: 01 Sep 06 - 04:43 PM I believe the RNLI received its 'Royal' bit before Ireland got its independence. The RNLI is a charity and nothing to do with the UK or Irish governments. They were set up to cover the British Isles and their still doing it 180 years later! http://rnli.org.uk/ |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Les from Hull Date: 01 Sep 06 - 05:00 PM Sorry, bad link RNLI |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: weerover Date: 02 Sep 06 - 06:12 AM Thanks, Les, I should have worked that out but it's perfectly clear now. wr |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: GUEST,Robot From Space Date: 02 Sep 06 - 12:07 PM There were high kings in Ireland before the saxon scum arrived! |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: John MacKenzie Date: 02 Sep 06 - 12:19 PM Oh dear, that sort of silly response only makes me laugh I'm afraid, it's just rhetoric, and has no logic. Giok |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser) Date: 02 Sep 06 - 12:46 PM Yes, the RNLI has taken care of the Irish and British coasts since its inception. There was a documentary on a couple of weeks ago about the Penlee lifeboat disaster in 1981. Made me feel very humble and grateful for such men and women - all volunteers. The original post, however, sort of makes a point - should an 'independent' country continue to rely on what began as a British organisation to keep its coastline safe? Or should that independence place an obligation on the Irish Republic to spend the money on the men and equipment to do the job? I have to say, though, that I've never heard anyone in Ireland quibble about the continued presence in Ireland of the RNLI - especially in coastal communities. People who live off the sea perhaps see a bigger picture than the narrow, nationalistic concerns of some of us. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: The Walrus Date: 02 Sep 06 - 02:32 PM It seems logical to have one organistion covering the waters around the whole collection of islands, it ensures that that all the systems are compatible between different branches/locations - A rescue could be organised involving units from any of the stations surrounding the Irish Sea in full confidence that the various units and equipment can communicate and work together. As a charity, I'm sure the RNLI collect contributions from the Republic as well from the UK. W |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: GUEST Date: 02 Sep 06 - 02:54 PM "should an 'independent' country continue to rely on what began as a British organisation to keep its coastline safe? Or should that independence place an obligation on the Irish Republic to spend the money on the men and equipment to do the job?" Is their relying on this charity for parts of this any different to ours? I don't believe it recieves any UK government funding. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Michael in Swansea Date: 02 Sep 06 - 07:23 PM The RNLI wholly subsidised by voluntary contributions, every one of them, in my mind a hero. Don't you think, that maybe, the Irish contingent like to think themslves as members of the only voluntary lifeboat service still serving? God help us if it was nationalised. British governments, now and future, keep your hands off our lifeboats. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Rumncoke Date: 02 Sep 06 - 08:24 PM Anyone who will risk life and limb to rescue the silly whatsits who get themselves into difficulties around our coasts is royalty in my book. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: GUEST Date: 03 Sep 06 - 09:41 AM They may have gone now, but there used to be a few 'Royal' organisations in Ireland less than 50 years ago. From memory, there was the Royal Dublin Horse Show, or some similar name, and I think the medical school at Cork University had a Royal tag as well. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Flash Company Date: 03 Sep 06 - 10:02 AM Going to see my favourite RNLI people in Cornwall again in about three weeks time. Having been out on one of those boats in a fairly calm sea, and that was like a white knuckle ride, there is no way I would want to do it in storm conditions. They are all heroes with day jobs, when the maroon goes up, like as not the guy re-glazing your broken window will drop everything and run for the shore. They are the one charity that I support as much as possible. FC |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Keith A of Hertford Date: 03 Sep 06 - 10:49 AM I was a volunteer rescuee by an inshore boat in an exercise at St.Agnes last year. Good fun but I don't think my head should have been so long under the water. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: weerover Date: 03 Sep 06 - 11:32 AM From the two unnamed guests above come a couple of points. Yes, I was aware of a couple of other incidences, the Royal Dublin Society Arena and Royal Dublin Golf Club. If the Golf Club is particularly upmarket, of course, maybe its members have just ignored the whole independence issue. wr |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Peace Date: 03 Sep 06 - 06:39 PM "Anyone who will risk life and limb to rescue the silly whatsits who get themselves into difficulties around our coasts is royalty in my book." Hear, hear. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 03 Sep 06 - 07:15 PM Even at the height of the "troubles" when the Lifeboat is called it mattered not one wit what religion or political bent you were, the lifeboat launched. The Lifeboat drives on with a courage which is stronger than the storm. It drives on with a mercy which does not quail in the presence of death. It drives on as proof, a symbol, a testimony that man is created in the image of God and that valour and virtue have not perished in the British race. - Winston Churchill, RNLI Centenary 1924 |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Peace Date: 03 Sep 06 - 11:52 PM People like that remind me of what I admire in the human character. Much like the US Coast Guard motto (don't know if motto is the correct word): "You have to go out. You don't have to come back." |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: weerover Date: 04 Sep 06 - 05:35 AM An omission on my part, I suppose, not to have given my opinion on the brave lads (and possibly lasses too) who volunteer for this highly dangerous job. wr |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Keith A of Hertford Date: 04 Sep 06 - 07:12 AM Women do indeed serve. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Skipjack K8 Date: 04 Sep 06 - 09:41 AM I was standing on the shingle beach at West Mersea on the Essex coast, in a full gale Saturday last, watching an Essex smack (Sunbeam, for any like-minded anoraks) make very slow progress under motor into the wind, pitching and tossing with topmast still raised and towing the smack's boat, the crew visibly crawling round the decks. I felt that sick-to-the-pit-of-the-stomach feeling that the brave men and women who man lifeboats must feel as they watch the sky over the lifeboat station waiting for the flare to burst, summoning them to do what is surely the most un-natural act of putting to sea in the maelstrom. It took a full hour for the smack to make the mile to the lea of Shinglehead Point, and fortunately no other mishap required the risk of a launch that tide, but although I am time-served at sea, I doubt I could live day-in, day-out responding to the crack of the flare. All power to 'em. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Tannywheeler Date: 04 Sep 06 - 10:26 AM So much of Ireland is coastal. I remember on out trip in 1990--all the pubs had collection boxes on the bar for the lifeboat org. I contributed lots of little metal stampings of deer and fish.... I'd stood on a cliff over the sea on several occasions and seen the ordinary weather motions of the sea (and felt the wind--if I'd spread my arms in the cape I was wearing I might have made Greenland) and wondered at ANY person putting ANY craft into that thundering mass of cold water and rocks for ANY reason. Who's the Saint who left Ireland in a curragh and discovered America?? If any basis in fact, he was CERTIFIABLE as absolutely insane. Dictionary def. Tw |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Les from Hull Date: 04 Sep 06 - 12:32 PM Tw - St Brendan. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Grab Date: 04 Sep 06 - 12:53 PM I don't believe it recieves any UK government funding. According to my folks (who are sailors), the UK government has actually proposed funding the RNLI. The RNLI refused, because part of the condition on funding was that the RNLI would become more like the US Coastguard and become a military organisation with responsibilities for stopping drugs boats and the like. They preferred to be fully charity-funded and be solely responsible for life-saving. Graham. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Rumncoke Date: 04 Sep 06 - 05:51 PM They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters. They see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like drunken men, and are at their wit's end. I get the feeling that the writer of Psalm 107 once made a rough and very wet sea crossing and half way over vowed to go the long way round by land from then on, if he survived. He certainly got the wit's end bit right. There are two stages of sea sickness, the first is when you fear you might die, the second is when you fear you are going to continue to live. During my time sailing a little yacht with a doubtful engine, I never actually needed the RNLI - but even today I contribute to this totally charitably funded organisation. I feel a perpetual obligation to them just for being there. Anne |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 04 Sep 06 - 11:33 PM USCG motto is "Semper Paratus" (Always Ready)" British Air Sea Rescue "The Sea Shall not Have Them" Canadian SAR "That Others Shall Live |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser) Date: 05 Sep 06 - 07:30 AM I'd like to echo the many posts who have emphasised what a remarkable job the RNLI does. Coastal safety seems to be one of the few issues in Irish and British affairs that transcends politics, at least to a great extent. I guess the sea puts other things in perspective. I know that the Irish government has been buying new helicopters recently and that air-sea rescue will probably figure in their role. Not that that has prevented some people complaining about the expense. In the past, the British and Irish armed forces have worked together on maritime disasters off the Irish coast - the Air India 747 brought down by a terrorist bomb springs to mind. I was in Ireland a few years ago when a tanker ran aground on the Irish coast and I overheard a number of Irish people saying what a great job they thought the RAF had done getting the crew off safely. You might not have heard that a few years earlier. Sometimes it might seem strange for these islands to rely on volunteers for coastal safety in this day and age - but if the alternative is the militarisation and (inevitably) politicisation of the lifeboat service then maybe this is something we've somehow managed to get right - in both countries. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: ard mhacha Date: 05 Sep 06 - 09:59 AM Some crank gets the limeys blood up with a silly comment, grow up, anyone who questions the role the RLNI play is a fool, good luck to all of these brave people who risk their lives for others. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Les from Hull Date: 05 Sep 06 - 10:16 AM And we shouldn't ignore the role played by the Irish Coastguard, the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency who maintain search and rescue helicopters all around the British Isles. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 05 Sep 06 - 10:22 AM The only paid member of the crew is the engineer/mechanic (for obvious reasons it is full time job) The rest are volunteers. I remember the landlord of a pub in Fleetwood running out the door to man the lifeboat one lunchtime, leaving both the taps and cash open; nobody stole anything, just paid and pumped their own beer till his wife took over. Yours, Aye. Dave |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Les from Hull Date: 05 Sep 06 - 11:28 AM There is one full-time paid crew, the crew of the Humber lifeboat based at Spurn. It's a pretty out of the way spot is Spurn. Humber lifeboat |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: GUEST Date: 05 Sep 06 - 04:54 PM My favourite charity. Whilst I lived in Holyhead I knew the people who staffed the lifeboat. They went to sea in weather most people would not leave the house in. They deserve a gold pig, all of them. I have a friend's son who serves with the Portpatrick too. Extraordinary brave people. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Skipjack K8 Date: 05 Sep 06 - 05:44 PM Today I have lived and learned. My conscience was pricked by this thread that I hadn't made good on an offering to the gods in a marine scrape a few years ago, so I tried to find the Humber Inshore Rescue website (the RIB that launches under the Humber Bridge). It turns out that they aren't RNLI, but I found them at this site, which list 60 Independent Lifeboats , including the Runswick Bay boat that is close to Raggy's heart. I also forgot that I read the log of the Humber RIB a few years back, and was amazed to read that bald statement that the Bosun was shot whilst attending a shout in the urban River Hull. Shot! A ****ing lifeboatman! Boy, is that a sign of a sick society? Anyway, amends have been made, donation posted off today, and an offer of a freebie fundraiser ceilidh by the Black Diamonds. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Grab Date: 06 Sep 06 - 07:46 AM Me too, Anne. They stood by to help my mum and dad when my mum got cracked by the boom on the way back from Ireland during a particularly rough ride. She had concussion (kept passing out) and a broken eye socket, and although my dad managed to get them to Liverpool OK, they were very glad of having them there. I'm from Lytham St Annes, which is the site of the worst lifeboat disaster in the British Isles (the Mexico disaster in 1886). Of the three lifeboats involved, the St Annes and Southport lifeboats and their entire crews (27 men) were lost in the rescue - the St Annes boat was lost on the way out, and the Southport boat reached the Mexico but was swamped and capsided when they got there, but the Lytham lifeboat managed to get there, take the crew off and get back safely. This was in the days of rowed lifeboats, and I can only imagine the courage of those guys in heading out under conditions like that. Graham. |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 06 Sep 06 - 11:16 AM Here is a good link to the Irish RNLI. Drop a few coins to them if you can. http://www.dun-laoghaire.com/dir/rnli.html |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: MartinRyan Date: 07 Sep 06 - 03:40 AM Mention of the Mexico reminds me that there's an excellent book called "Songs of the Wexford Coast" by a Fr. Ransom , originally published in 1948, which contains a number of fine lifeboat ballads. One of them is about a Norwewgian timber schooner called the Mexico which sank in 1914. Regards |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: MartinRyan Date: 07 Sep 06 - 02:20 PM That's Fr. Joseph Ranson, BTW Regards |
Subject: RE: BS: Irish lifeboats From: GUEST,beachcomber Date: 07 Sep 06 - 06:33 PM Yes of course Irish people support the RNLI , through the many collection boxes , not alone in pubs but also in some restaurants, shops and, I have even come across one in a private house -where noone was actually a member of a crew or back-up committee. Also, these committees, in many coastal communities around the country, organise fund-raising events such as sponsored swims, regatta and various other sea based activities. A couple of local women in my village (not even committee members , it must be said) have raised over 40,000Euro by means of a sponsored Christmas Day Swim for the last 5 or six years. Living beside the sea I have actually watched some of these brave Lifeboat people in action and know many of them personally. To all intents and purposes they are ordinary everyday folk - not so! Good luck to their efforts, I don't believe any of them are particularly conscious of the "Royal" patronage of their organisation, why should they. |