Still saving lives across the world
A FORMER Anglesey lifeboat is still saving lives over 5,500 miles away in the Indian Ocean.
The Tyne class lifeboat, Robert & Violet, spent over 25 years as Moelfre RNLI’s main vessel, saving 92 lives during 394 launches.
But despite the end of her days patrolling the north Anglesey coast, the veteran vessel is still saving lives at sea in the slightly sunnier climbs of Sri Lanka.
In May 2013, around 500 people witnessed the lifeboat launch for the last time from Moelfre’s old station along with her successor, the new Tamar class lifeboat Kiwi.
One of those also at Moelfre that day was RNLI volunteer Bryan Hughes who now lives in Chester.
Intrigued about the fate of the old lifeboat, Bryan took the opportunity during his recent holiday to Sri Lanka to visit the former Robert & Violet, also meeting some of her new crew and supporters of the Sri Lankan Lifeboat Institution (SLLI).
After ending her service on Anglesey, the Robert and Violet spent a further two years at Lough Swilly in north west Ireland before being withdrawn from RNLI service, later sold to the fledgling SLLI, who had struggled for nearly 15 years to source and fund a dedicated rescue vessel.
She finally arrived in Sri Lanka last year when COSCO shipping agreed to transport the 25 tonne vessel from Felixstowe to Colombo, free of charge on one of their container ships.
The lifeboat, now named Puffin XII, arrived in Colombo in August 2015, some 5,600 miles away from tion.
“The sheer enjoyment and sentimentality of being on board what was once the Moelfre lifeboat, now some 9,000km away from her former home, was a surreal and an unforgettable moment of a magnificent holiday.
“After her 27 years service in the RNLI and having seen the last launch of the Robert and Violet lifeboat from Moelfre in 2013, the occasion in Colombo was somewhat emotional, particularly as the lifeboat is destined to save further lives off the coast of another island; namely Sri Lanka.”