Port Isaac People: The RNLI Lifeboat Crew
“With courage, nothing is impossible”
Sir William Hillary, Founder of the RNLI
An evening training exercise in the bay.
This year the RNLI celebrates its 200th anniversary. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the charity that has been saving lives at sea since 1824, and Port Isaac is proud to have been a part of that illustrious history. At the end of September the community came together to celebrate that history and the courage of our village’s volunteers at a special fundraising gala dinner.
Port Isaac RNLI's 200 Gala on September 28th 2024
The Founding of the RNLI
In 1822 Sir William Hillary, a British militia officer, author and philanthropist living on the Isle of Man, assisted in the rescue of the HMS Vigilant and then, only two months later, witnessed the wreck of the HMS Racehorse. Determined to do something to reduce the loss of life from shipwrecks around the British coast he developed plans for what would eventually become the RNLI.
“A large body of men … in constant readiness to risk their own lives for the preservation of those whom they have never known or seen, perhaps of another nation, merely because they are fellow creatures in extreme peril.”
Members of Port Isaac's lifeboat crew watch on as a training exercise takes place.
In 1823 he appealed to the Navy but to no avail, so he instead turned to his philanthropic London society friends and lobbied aristocrats, MPs, bankers, merchants and clerics. On March 4th 1824 at the City of London Tavern, Bishopsgate, the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck was formed with King George IV as patron. In 1854 the name was changed to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
The History of Port Isaac Lifeboat Station
Saving lives at sea did not begin with the formation of the RNLI, but from that moment onwards it was well organised and well funded. Up until that point the residents of coastal communities had had to take matters into their own hands to help those in peril at sea.
In 1859, ten years before a lifeboat arrived in Port Isaac, local fisherman Charles Mitchell was awarded a silver medal by the RNLI for rescuing four crew from a floundering sloop in his fishing boat.
In 1869 Mr & Mrs Richard Thornton-West funded a lifeboat for Port Isaac. It was named the Richard and Sarah (in their honour) and a boathouse to accommodate it was built on Fore Street – it is now Boat House Stores. The Richard and Sarah was the first of four 'Pulling and sailing' lifeboats stationed at Port Isaac that were equipped with oars but could use sails when conditions allowed. She was 32 feet long, 7½ feet wide, pulled ten oars double banked and was self-righting. When required to launch, the lifeboat’s carriage was maneuvered down Fore Street on ropes. Where she rounded the corner at Port Isaac Trading Co the ropes rubbed the walls so much that they formed grooves.
In 1933 the last of Port Isaac’s four pulling and sailing lifeboats, the Ernest Dresden, was decommissioned and it was 34 years before the village had a lifeboat again.Then in 1967 one of the RNLI’s new 5m inflatable D-Class inshore lifeboats (ILB) was stationed at Port Isaac, housed at the back of the fish cellars at the back of the beach.
Copeland Bell, Port Isaac RNLI's D-class lifeboat from 2009-2019 on a training exercise.
For many years and a succession of lifeboats the crew were alerted to a shout when a maroon rocket was fired over the village. The loud bang didn’t just alert the volunteer crew and launch team to get themselves to the station immediately, but also every resident of the village within earshot to clear the streets. Between 2005 and 2008 the firing of maroons was phased out by the RNLI in favour of the current (safer) pager system that alerts crew members.
Port Isaac has now had eight D-Class ILBs, the current lifeboat D-843 Pride of Port Isaac (Goeth Porthusek) launching in 2019 and being housed in the lifeboat station opposite the slipway in what was once the garage of The Slipway Hotel.
“I am proud to be a part of Port Isaac Lifeboat crew where we hold the prestigious role as custodians of a legacy, and the developers of the future. This custodianship comes with many responsibilities and the uniqueness of our role is that we have the onward responsibility of being custodians of our crew and the casualties we endeavour to help.
The most amazing part of what a crew does is transform. They transform from builders, farmers, bakers, fish merchants and brewers into custodians with only the sound of a pager and the three minutes it takes to get kitted up to prepare. Subconsciously our mind-sets change and the primary goal is to become the protector of each other and enable the safe and effective return from sea, often in conditions that stretch the boat’s capabilities let alone the capabilities of our own bodies, and during all of this we become the custodians of the casualties - some of whom are at the most fragile and vulnerable point in their lives, and sadly, some who we haven’t managed to reach in time to save. This is where, as a custodian of that person, in the most horrendous of situations, we are accorded our highest privilege.”
- Damian Bolton, Port Isaac Lifeboat Senior Helmsman
Launching The Port Isaac Lifeboat
The D-Class lifeboat has a crew of three or four, led by the helm. Unlike the RNLI’s lifeguard services launched in 2001, the lifeboat service is almost entirely unfunded and voluntary, with the exception of the largest stations and lifeboats who may have a full time paid engineer and coxswain. That means that when Port Isaac lifeboat is mobilised various villagers drop everything and leave their jobs, their beds, and their families to respond, at any time of the day or night, for no reward. As well as the crew, there is a shore team who prepare and launch the lifeboat and then retrieve, refuel and ready it for service after a shout or a training session. The saying goes that it takes a village, and in a small and tight-knit village like Port Isaac that couldn’t be more true.
The lifeboat is on-call all year round, so the crew train all year round too.
“To remain as a lifeboatman it has to be more of a vocation than a commitment, not necessarily because of the time commitments that go hand in hand with volunteering but because of the nature of what we do.
The basic requirement, beyond upholding the RNLI’s code of conduct, is to commit to a minimum of 12 afloat exercises within a rolling 12 month calendar plus the attendance of at least four shore based meetings. Shore crew have to do the same but instead of afloat exercises they are obviously shore based around launch and recovery etc.
As we track the advancements in search and rescue, the commitment is becoming more developed and we have seen the recent introduction by the RNLI of the Operational Competence Framework which outlines a number of scenario-based exercises which need to be carried out by each individual in line with 12 exercises. Coupled with this we have a sea survival qualification that needs completing once every five years and a Casualty Critical Care first aid course once every three years. Optional courses in boat handling, command and navigation can also be attended, all of which are run at the state of the art RNLI college in Poole.
The RNLI, and locally at each station, is all about “the more you give, the more you get from it”. Therefore, all of the above is about the minimal commitment, but then above and beyond you can do as much as you want with both seagoing activities and fundraising with the committee.”
- Damian Bolton, Port Isaac Lifeboat Senior Helmsman
Launching Port Isaac's D-Class lifeboat.
The Lifeboat House is the white building at the back of The Platt.
Supporting Port Isaac Lifeboat
Every year Port Isaac RNLI hold several fundraising events.
Lifeboat Larks is take place around mid-August every year on the Platt and around the harbour. It’s a family-friendly day with a lifeboat demonstration, a BBQ, silver band and lots of activities for adults and kids alike.
In June there is an annual Service of Thanksgiving on The Platt, as well as various auctions, quizzes, station open days and other events throughout the year. If your visit to Port Isaac coincides with any of these events then we’d encourage you to attend and soak up some of the amazing crew and community spirit that surrounds them, whilst supporting an amazing cause.
“The most obvious and amazing show of support is when we embark on another year of fundraising. In the bleakest depths of a winter evening or the sunniest Sunday afternoon villagers and holidaymakers alike come out in their droves to support us and dig deep. Just last year we pulled in over £100,000 of donations due to fundraising events put on by our incredible committee, who, year on year raise enough money to mean Port Isaac RNLI is self sustaining in monetary terms.
The bottom line is we are a charity, and we want to remain a charity, but we can only save lives at sea with the generosity of the public. The RNLI’s lifeboat services cost over £190m a year to run – raising that is no mean feet but as a whole we do it. We do it because people appreciate the risks we take to help others, without judgement and sometimes with sacrifice. We wouldn’t exist without the public, no matter how small or large their donation, it’s down to the donations they make that means we can answer the next cry for help.”
- Damian Bolton, Port Isaac Lifeboat Senior Helmsman
You can visit the lifeboat station daily and view Pride of Port Isaac. There are opportunities to donate within the station or you can visit the Port Isaac RNLI shop diagonally opposite at number 2, Church Hill (the other side of the Fish Cellars at the junction of Roscarrock Hill). You can also become a member of the RNLI, or as with any large charity you can donate online or in memory of a loved on, or leave a gift in your will.
If you would like to donate directly to Port Isaac RNLI without visiting the station, you can donate to the RNLI Direct Fund:
Sort Code 20-68-95 Account Number 93032671 and include the station reference number 925365
Port Isaac Lifeboat on an evening training exercise.