RNLI life boat volunteers out on the Solent from Bembridge RNLI station, Isle of Wight. Photo:Jeff Gilbert
Image details
Contributor:
Jeff Gilbert / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
C0DF2RFile size:
35.5 MB (1.8 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
4325 x 2869 px | 36.6 x 24.3 cm | 14.4 x 9.6 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
14 May 2008Location:
RNLI, Bembridge, Isle of Wight, England, UKMore information:
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a registered charity that has been saving lives at sea since 1824. Based at over 231 lifeboat stations, our volunteer crews provide, on call, the 24-hour service necessary to cover Search and Rescue requirements up to 100 nautical miles out to sea from the coast of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. 2008 saw our lifeboats launch 8, 182 times and, despite the wet summer, the RNLI lifeguards were also very busy, attending 9, 535 incidents on 110 beaches in the south west of England, East Anglia and South Wales. Altogether, our volunteer crews and RNLI lifeguards aided 18, 559 people last year. Of course, in many cases, our crews intervene at an earlier stage and assist people who are either at risk or injured, as well as carrying out a wide range of preventative work. The RNLI’s lifeboat service receives no funding from the UK government and depends upon voluntary contributions and legacies for its income. In 1867, the crew of the Norwegian Barque Egbert was rescued by the fishermen of Bembridge in an ordinary open boat. At the same time, the Nab Lightship had been removed to a greater distance from the shore. Bembridge needed a lifeboat. In July 1867 the Committee of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution decided to base a lifeboat at Bembridge using £524 donated to the RNLI by the citizens of Worcester. The life-boat was named for its donors, the City of Worcester, was delivered in October of that year. In November she was called out for the first time, in rough weather, to assist the brig Bessie, of Sunderland, seen to anchor dangerously nearby. (She was guided safely into Bembridge Harbour, the RNLI later awarding £7 4s 0d to the lifeboat crew). Since that day, in 1867, over 900 lives have been saved by generations of volunteer lifeboat crews at Bembridge.