Tom McGuire, RNLI Regional Media Manager for Ireland and Scotland, traces the history of the charity in Ireland as it marks its two hundredth anniversary.

 

Public houses have a colourful and chequered history and many a ‘gilded lily’ and ‘urban myth’ has seen first light on a high stool. However, there are exceptions, and over two centuries ago one of the most significant and enduring charitable organisations in Ireland and the U.K. was created in ‘The London Tavern’, Bishopsgate, London. It was 4 March 1824 and the charity was what has become the RNLI, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

The founder, Sir William Hillary, a retired solicitor living on the Isle of Man, had witnessed too many shipwrecks and realised something needed to be done. His family motto was ‘With courage nothing is impossible’, despite several false dawns he succeeded in convincing ‘the great and the good’ that a foundation to save lives at sea needed to be established.
The newly founded charity got the King’s seal of approval. As part of the Douglas lifeboat crew on the Isle of Man, Sir William himself helped save more than 300 lives and in the 200 years since its foundation the charity has gone on to save over 144,000 lives.

After 200 years the mission of the RNLI continues to be ‘to save every one.’
The first Irish lifeboat station was opened in Arklow, Co. Wicklow in 1826. New facilities continued to emerge throughout the 19th century including stations at Wicklow and Ballycotton, Co. Cork. By the 1910s Donaghadee, Co. Down and Wicklow were among the first stations to have a motor lifeboat.

Today there are 46 RNLI lifeboat stations on the island of Ireland. Most are located around the coast, but four stations are on inland lakes at Lough Ree, Lough Derg and Upper and Lower Lough Erne. By the time the Irish Free State was established there were 24 Irish lifeboat stations. It is a tribute to the independent and voluntary status of the charity that it was seamlessly assimilated into the new state. Today the RNLI and its thousands of volunteers are proud to continue the lifesaving tradition in Ireland and the U.K.

Some stations have a full-time crew member but most crew are volunteers. These are comprised of boat crew who go to sea; shore crew who support the launch and recovery of the boat and who communicate the Irish Coast Guard and the lifeboat crew during operations; a fund-raising team who work tirelessly in providing resources for the charity’s lifesaving work and an education team who promote water safety and best practices for the general public while on the water for recreational or professional reasons.

There have been many notable call-outs or ‘shouts’ for the charity’s volunteers over the centuries. Among the most notable were two, off the south coast.
Off the coast of Cork on a calm afternoon on 7 May 1915 the Lusitania, with 1,959 people on board, was struck by a torpedo from a German submarine. The blast was so powerful that the ship sank in 18 minutes.

At 2.15pm the Lusitania’s mayday call was received at Queenstown Naval Station. Among the fleet that headed for the scene was the Queenstown RNLI lifeboat James Stevens No. 20. On arrival at the scene casualties were found on the ship’s lifeboats and in the sea. Survivors were taken onboard the larger powered vessels and ferried to safety in Queenstown (now Cobh).

From the west, volunteers from Courtmacsherry had also launched their lifeboat Kezia Gwilt. Coxswain Timothy Keohane saw the ship go down and rounded up his crew. In calm conditions with no wind to drive a sail the crew rowed the 12 miles to the scene, taking more than three hours. By the time they arrived, all survivors had been recovered.
Lifeboat Secretary Reverend William Forde wrote in his report: ‘It was a harrowing sight to witness. The sea was strewn with dead bodies floating about, some with lifebelts on, others holding on to pieces of rafts – all dead. I deeply regret it was not in our power to have been in time to save some.’

On the east Cork coast the community at Ballycotton forever remember a rescue by the local RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew in 1936 which has been described as one of the ‘most brave, daring and courageous’ rescues in the history of the charity.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own