From cork lifejackets to motor boats: two centuries of innovation
Throughout its 200-year history the RNLI has spearheaded innovation and adapted to the challenging circumstances of saving lives at sea.
In 1861, cork lifejackets became widely used by lifeboat crews after the new design helped save the life of a crew member. The Whitby lifeboat had launched six times to rescue stricken vessels in a storm but on the sixth launch a large wave capsized the lifeboat, killing all the crew members apart from Henry Freeman, who was wearing a cork lifejacket.
The RNLI embraced fundraising in 1886 after 27 lifeboat crew members from Southport and St Annes died trying to rescue the crew of the vessel Mexico.
A public appeal was launched, driven by local man Charles Macara, and in 1891 a total of £10,000 was raised in just two weeks. On 1 October, Mr Macara and his wife Marion organised the first Lifeboat Saturday when bands, floats and lifeboats paraded through the streets of Manchester, followed by volunteers collecting money.
The first motor lifeboat was launched from Tynemouth in 1914 in a rescue of a steamship which ran aground on rocks near Whitby as it was travelling to Dunkirk to help wounded soldiers.
Five lifeboats battled terrible seas to reach the ship and the motor lifeboat rescued the last 50 people on board the Rohilla, meaning a total of 144 people were saved by the crews, who worked for more than 50 hours in atrocious conditions.
The two world wars did not stop the RNLI from saving lives, despite many volunteers being called away to fight. In the First World War, the average age of crews increased to over 50 but between 1914 and 1918 RNLI lifeboats still launched 1,808 times, saving 5,332 lives.
During the Second World War, RNLI crews saved 6,376 lives around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. And in 1940, 19 RNLI lifeboats were used to evacuate troops from Dunkirk, with two vessels having RNLI crews while the others were manned by the Royal Navy.
An RNLI spokesman said: “The lifeboats and their stand-in crews saved thousands of lives while being shelled and bombed for days.”