The lifeboat rescue of a drunk . . . dangling 30ft above the Thames
The heroes of the 1916 Salcombe lifeboat disaster, in which 13 brave volunteers died, were still remembered in history lessons at my primary school, half a century ago.
In those days, our strident, violin-wielding headmistress, Miss Walton, was free to choose what she taught — not being rule-bound by a politically correct national curriculum.
Today’s generation of pupils are probably too busy being taught about Polynesian harvest festival customs to pay much attention to the men and women who safeguard Britain’s coasts.
Be thankful for the return of Saving Lives At Sea (BBC2), which not only celebrates the selfless work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) — but salutes the long-ago sacrifices of lifeboatmen who rowed rescue boats into gale-force seas to save drowning mariners.
We are an island nation and it is right that we remember, as the hymn says, ‘those in peril on the sea’. Not that it’s all stricken trawlers and mountainous waves.
As cameras mounted on the crew’s helmets revealed, some of the rescues are closer to farce than fearless quest.
We saw the Thames lifeboat scrambled to save a man dangling perilously from scaffolding on waterside apartments. Police reported that he’d been trying to climb into the beer garden of a pub, after he was thrown out by the landlord. About 30ft above the waterline, he’d been taken suddenly and unexpectedly sober, and was now paralysed with terror.
When he lost his grip and fell, the lifeboat crew hauled him aboard before the currents dragged him under. As the brief interviews with RNLI veterans explained, their role isn’t all headlong rush and courage: it’s crucial that they understand the water, the pull of the tides and the hidden dangers.
Dog-lover Caroline was caught out by the speed of the incoming tide on the Solway Firth when she drove out onto the sands to look for her missing pet. The sea swamped her car in seconds and left Caroline stranded on the vehicle’s roof.
Bodycam footage of her rescue was jumbled and confused, but that adds to the sense of immediacy. We’re seeing real rescues, not scripted reconstructions, which makes it all the more emotional. Most moving of all was the story of 13-year-old Joe, who was in a kayak off Anglesey with his father when it capsized.
In the freezing water, Joe gave his dad a goodbye kiss, in case they didn’t make it, and then helped him swim to an outcrop of rocks. hauling his unconscious father out of the water, Joe slung him across his shoulder and carried him to higher ground, to await rescue. The West Mersea crew were speechless to think of the strength that love gives.
Love that lasts a lifetime was the theme of Long Lost Family (ITV), which saw two mothers reunited with the babies who were taken from them for adoption in the Sixties. In 1964, Marion, from Kidderminster, was 18 and told her boyfriend she was pregnant.
he retorted that he was married — and disappeared.
At a home for single mothers, Marion had to hand her little daughter to new parents, and then go back to strip the sheets and remake the cot bed for the next baby.
Presenters Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall listen quietly, without overplaying the emotion. The similarity of these weekly stories can dull their impact, but the moment of reunion between people separated for so long never fails to touch the heart.