Lifeboat Service in England: The South West and Bristol Channel

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was established in 1824 and has a long and proud tradition of saving life at sea. Today, the volunteer lifeboat crews Cornwall, North Devon and Somerset operate high-tech state-of-the-art lifeboats in their work of saving lives at sea in and around some of the busiest sea lanes in the world. The RNLI currently operates twenty-one lifeboat stations on the south coast of England and Channel Islands, and this comprehensive book has details of every one, with information about their history, rescues and current lifeboats. It also includes details and outline histories of old stations that have been closed. Many dramatic, courageous and daring rescues have been performed by the lifeboat crews from Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly, North Devon and Somerset, and these are brought to life in the historical introduction, which examines the gallantry and selflessness of the volunteer lifeboat men and women who crew the county's lifeboats as well as tracing the history and development of the lifeboat service around England's south-west coasts. Author Nicholas Leach has amassed a wealth of information about and many outstanding photographs, old and new, of the lifeboats and lifeboat stations Cornwall, North Devon and Somerset, past and present. He has visited every one to provide a complete and up-to-date record of life-saving in the seas off this beautiful and picturesque, but often dangerous, coastline. This is the fifth in a series of eight books which will provide outline histories and photographs of every lifeboat station, past and present, around the coasts of the British Isles and Ireland. Such a project has never been completed before, and it is hoped that this unique record will prove to be a worthy tribute to the sea rescue services.