Phoebe welcomed aboard in RNLI hiring first for Scotland
Dunbar Lifeboat Station has made history by appointing the RNLI’s first female fulltime mechanic in Scotland.
Once fully trained, Phoebe Douglas will be responsible for maintaining the East Lothian station’s two lifeboats, as well as serving on the crew.
The 23-year-old, who graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in mechanical engineering, previously worked with the fundraising team of the lifesaving charity, which is currently celebrating its 200th anniversary.
Phoebe said: “I’ve always wanted to work on boats and wanted a job where I could be outside and hands-on practical rather than being in an office. It’s an ideal job for me in many ways. I also wanted to join the crew but thought that might come later in life. I didn’t think I could get a job where I’d be able to combine being a volunteer too.”
While studying in the Capital, Phoebe was vice commodore of the university sailing club, running the yachting side and organising expeditions on the west coast of Scotland, in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic.
Having taken up sailing at the age of 11, she is an experienced sailor and qualified dinghy instructor and skipper. “I wanted to study engineering because I like practical stuff, learning about engines, getting hands-on and finding out how things work,” she went on. “At university it was very theoretical and research-based, so this job is coming back to the reasons I wanted to get into engineering in the first place.”
Phoebe is currently undertaking intensive training in preparation for maintaining the station’s in-shore lifeboat (ILB), tractor and Land Rover at Dunbar and the all-weather lifeboat (ALB), boarding boat and launching davit at Torness Power Station.
She takes over from Gipper Ainslie, who left last year after
This job is coming back to the reasons I wanted to get into engineering in the first place
ten years in Dunbar. While there already female volunteer mechanics operating at Scottish stations, Phoebe is the first full-timer and becomes the sixth woman to join the RNLI team at Dunbar.
As for being a trailblazer, she added: “Engineering has always been a massively male dominated industry so I was already aware of what I might be getting myself into. I figured it would be quite unusual but it doesn’t bother me.”