Episode 2 Saving Lives at Sea

We're an island nation, drawn to the sea that surrounds us.

For many, it's a playground.

For others, it's where we earn our living.

But the sea is unpredictable.

Waves!

It can change in an instant.

And when accidents happen, they happen very fast.

You're in cold water, you're not going to last long.

There to save our lives is a volunteer army

of 5,000 ordinary people, ready to leave their jobs,

their families and race to our rescue.

One minute you are just an ordinary person,

the next minute you are a lifeboat crew member.

They're the last line of defence against a deadly water.

Wouldn't even like to think what would happen

if there was no-one there.

I was waiting for death when a guardian angel came.

To save someone's life is a privilege,

you feel like you are doing the most important thing on earth.

Thank you.

Over 200 years, the volunteers of the RNLI have saved the lives

of more than 140,000 people...

Brave lifeboat men don't cry.

Rubbish, I do.

..treating every callout as a matter of life and death.

That's what we all turn up for, to save people's lives.

Summer in Blackpool.

The population has quadrupled with the influx of tourists.

This afternoon, the sea temperature is a cool 12 degrees.

And there's a strong current.

A call has gone out for help.

Go!

Attention...

What are we doing? Both going in this?

'Blackpool ILB, Liverpool Coastguard.

-'Person in the water under South Pier. Over.'

-Liverpool, affirmative.

We're just about to launch.

The Blackpool team is made up of 35 volunteers.

If you look at it broad-brush, in 238 locations around the coast

of the UK, right now upwards of 30 people per location will drop

anything they are doing to run to eagerly get in some form

of waterproofs, get on board some form of orange and blue thing

and go out to sea to save somebody.

All right there, bud?

That is pretty awesome.

And there's nothing else that exists like it in the world.

We've just arrived at South Pier, any further information, over?

Seven minutes after the alarm was raised,

a lifeboat is on the scene.

Colin, who worked as a commercial skipper, is at the helm.

Hey! Whoa!

Keep swimming to us, keep swimming to us. Col, Col, Col!

You've run over him! You've run over him.

The drowning man has been kept above water by

a lifeguard until help arrives.

Three, two...

Restart it.

I've been at Blackpool lifeboat for 20 years.

People do underestimate the power of nature and the sea.

They're very naive to the dangers.

They do make you think about life and death in a different way.

You do realise how easy it can all finish.

One minute you are having a good time, messing around,

and next thing, that's it, it's done.

It does make you appreciate life a bit more.

Ambulance guys are up there.

Yeah!

-He's coming round, ain't he?

-Get him over, get him over...

Of course, you are willing them to come back, you know.

-He's coming round.

-Come on, mate. Come on, man.

We're only human.

Come on, mate. Come on, mate.

-Come on!

-No, no, we're there.

-Please!

Right, let's go.

But, yeah, it does come as a little bit of

a surprise when they actually come back.

It's not often you get them moments. But it is a good feeling.

-Well, he's definitely breathing.

-He is trying, he's trying. Go on, mate.

-Come on, mate.

-Get some oxygen on him. Get some oxygen, Col.

-Come on, mate.

-Yeah, he's come round, he's come round.

'It's human nature.'

We like to extend our hand out to other people

and help people out in times of trouble.

Are we ready? Go, go, go!

The man was taken to hospital and was later able to return home.

When we got there, one of the beach patrols had got him

and was holding him up.

-Holding him up, yeah?

-Yeah.

-I ran them both over.

-And then we pulled them in!

-I heard you apologise.

-Excuse me!

The volunteers from the lifeboat crew went back to their day jobs.

Torbay Lifeboat Station has been guarding

the East Riviera of South West Devon since 1866.

Launching nearly 4,000 times, they've saved more than 1,000 lives.

Mark leads a team of 29 volunteers.

We've got anything from a guy just leaving the Navy to the local GP.

You've got a painter and decorator, you've got an architect,

you got a police officer. You've got a guy who, er...engineers at Flybe.

So you've got the whole spectrum.

Every volunteer carries a pager that lets them know when help is needed.

Jules is the most recent addition to the volunteers.

If the pager went off now, I'd just drop the paint,

chuck the brush down, climb up the barge,

try and get on the wall and run to my van as quick as I could.

It's just the buzz. It could be anything.

You never, ever know what it is.

Michelle is an environmental scientist.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Did you always want to work with snails?

-Er...

No, I thought it might be a bit more exciting and dolphins and things...

I've ended up with freshwater snails.

One of two women on the team,

Michelle's been volunteering for three years.

We've had some horrible shouts recently,

with people dying or not being able to find people on sunken boats...

Um... And, yeah, they are not very nice at all.

It's a bit weird.

You go along for ages and nothing and then, all of a sudden,

beautiful sunny day, flat calm and someone will fall down a cliff.

PAGER BLEEPS

ALARM BLARES

The pagers have gone off.

-Ready?

-Yeah, yeah.

In Torbay, the aim to get enough volunteers to the station

to launch within 10 minutes.

Today, the boats leave after five and a half.

That came from the boyfriend.

She's missing.

It's not some random person that was down the beach.

She had always been overdue for about an hour.

Now that, for me, is all the alarm bells I need.

Black wetsuit!

Black wetsuit, white cap!

'We need to throw everything at that straightaway, both boats,

'extra hands for looking.

'An hour's already elapsed and there was a massive big tide.

'So, I've got a big piece of ocean'

and I don't know where to start.

On average, 160 people a year lose their lives around the UK's coast.

I still can't see anyone.

When they said an hour overdue swimmer, you know...

A lot of people would struggle to swim for an hour,

let alone be an hour overdue.

The sea can quickly take you.

If you're constantly fighting and panicked,

then you become very quickly exhausted and...

it doesn't take very long to drown, so you need to be quick,

you need to be really quick.

Definitely wasted his time.

You need to be found and it is extremely difficult.

We've not been very successful over the years at finding people

that have been missing for long periods of time.

It is just incredibly difficult.

I've heard from survivors before saying,

"You went past me three times."

It must be absolutely horrific to see the boat

that's come out for you go by you.

Not easy to spot at all.

When you see a little crest of a wave, "Ooh, what's that?"

Have a closer look, maybe get the boat to veer over to it.

You imagine someone's head... and the big oceans...

A dot in the ocean. Basically, that's what it looks like.

There, I've got him!

-Where? At the front?

-Er...yeah, dead ahead.

In line with those people on the beach.

-Just there, look.

-Yeah.

-What's her name?

-Sarah.

Are you Sarah?

Somebody's called in, you've been a bit longer than you expected.

-But are you all right?

-Do I look all right?

-Yeah! I feel absolutely fine.

-Cool. Super.

-Sorry!

-No, no worries. I'm a swimmer as well.

As long as you are all right.

She's from Babbacombe or Oddicombe Swimming Club.

They do, like, five, ten mile swims.

She said thanks for coming out and sorry, but, yeah, she's fine.

Solent Coastguard...

-I'd thought that might be a horrible one.

-Yeah.

'It was a long time to be overdue.'

I, personally, thought something really bad had happened.

-Dolphin!

-Dolphin!

'You know, we addressed it, we were lucky.

'She was there, we came home, great.

'Sadly, on another occasion, we may well have used all of those'

resources for an awful long time and had a really bad outcome.

As the new boy, I haven't come across anything horrible yet.

Er, a body or...you know, someone in a bit of a mess.

I don't know how I will take it, but if I want to be on the crew, then...

I can't be scared of seeing a dead body.

I'm hungry. Hungry.

'The only time I ever see her is when she's hungry

'or if she wants something.'

The lifeboat comes first,

so she tends to hang around waiting for shouts.

Unfortunately, you get quite a few numpties that go out on boats.

Who's this, Evie?

I wouldn't mind betting Michelle's turning her car around

so she's in the right direction should there be a shout.

-INTERVIEWER:

-So it's always on her mind?

-Always.

She's so committed, it's unbelievable. She loves it.

-Eve!

-I suppose you're hungry? Is that why you've come to see me?

-Yeah, I thought it might be.

-Good girl! Good girl!

-INTERVIEWER:

-What did you say

when Michelle first said she was going to volunteer?

I don't think I said anything,

I think I burst into tears to start with.

You know, it's not a normal, everyday thing that she's doing

but...who am I to stop her?

Not that she'd take any notice anyway!

We just need to find Michelle a man so that somebody else can

-take over and look after her.

-Lifeboat man?

-Any man!

Anybody that'll have her! I don't really...

He needs to know what he's taking on, though,

she's not a normal, everyday...

I'm sure they dropped her on her head when she was a baby, but...

No, she's... She's a brilliant kid.

-Is she brave?

-Yes.

You've got to be, they all are.

There is no way in the world I would do it. No way. No way. No.

I look at the sea every single day and I think I've got far more

respect now for it than I ever did do before.

It looks so calm and like nothing would go wrong,

and then in a flick of a switch that wind starts and you've had it.

I think it's something magical, you look at it and it's never the same.

One day it could be glassy calm, next day, absolutely screaming.

White water everywhere, blowing a gale.

And when you work and live in an environment that we do,

you know that you could pay the ultimate price if you get it wrong.

Just to run through the events of the day, anybody who's not in

the lifeboats this morning, can they carry on with the parade, please?

36 volunteers guard the waters around Newquay,

led by fishmonger, Gareth.

Have you lived in Newquay all your life?

Not yet.

-All right?

-Yeah.

My great-great-grandfather was in Newquay lifeboat on the very

first shout in 1864.

He used to have a schooner ashore just across the bay.

That was in the days of rowing and sailing lifeboats.

Times have changed since then.

This is our Atlantic 85...

She's one of the fastest vessels in the RNLI's fleet.

Now, this is our D-class lifeboat.

Both of these boats were actually donated by bequests.

So, somebody has left us the money in their wills to buy both

-of these lifeboats.

-What does one lifeboat cost?

-The Atlantic 85's current cost is about 240,000.

-For one boat?

For one boat. It is a lot of money, there's no question about it.

But after all, the crew's life is in the hands of the boat.

ALARM BLARES

A call's come in.

A young boy who was on a Scout trip has ended up hurt in the water.

12-year-old boy in the Gazzle with suspected spinal. Coasteerer.

-What, coasteerer again?

-Yeah, same place again.

-Sh...!

Coasteering is going around the cliffs,

jumping off rocks into the sea. It can go badly wrong.

It is very easy to land badly and if you don't land at the right angle,

it is like hitting a brick wall.

-Any idea where in the Gazzle?

-I'll find out.

Falmouth Coastguard, Newquay ILB. Channel Zero.

Launched on service. Do you have a precise location, over?

Falmouth Coastguard, Newquay ILB, we have them visual.

Just coming up to them and alongside now. Over.

Within three minutes, the lifeboat is on the scene.

'Over. Rescue is already tasked. We will pass the ETA when available.

'Await your assessment. Over.'

-Both of you getting in the water?

-Yeah.

The crew have been trained in casualty care.

Tim has gone to take over from the coaststeering instructors

who have been trying to keep the boy afloat.

'Newquay ILB...'

All right? What's your name? Keep your head still. What's your name?

-Liam.

-Liam? My name's Tim, all right?

-Have you got any pain anywhere?

-My back.

-On your back? All right.

Anybody gets a pain in their back,

you...you panic because it's your spine.

How far did you jump?

-30 foot? Usual place?

-Yeah, yeah...

A slight movement, you know, a slight jolt, that could be it,

he could be paralysed for the rest of his life.

We'll get a few more hands

-and then we'll probably put you in the stretcher, all right?

-OK.

With everyone having to tread water,

Tim needs to wait for backup before lifting Liam from the scene.

A second lifeboat is on the way.

I got a voicemail from the Scout leader to say that

he had had an accident. That word "accident", you don't know...

You just... And I knew they were going coaststeering that day...

I just thought, "What on earth... What has he done? What? Is he...

I just couldn't...

You can't put it into words, really, cos your mind's just whizzing

around, you haven't got a clue what's actually happened.

You fear the worst, don't you, obviously? You know...

You do fear the worst.

The challenge is to immobilise the casualty

so that we can safely get them aboard the lifeboat

without doing them any further damage.

The person that's holding the head is calling the shots.

-Who chose to hold the head?

-I did.

Big responsibility.

Very big, that is, yeah.

The slightest little movement, it could change his life.

Hold his leg.

-Are you a confident person?

-Not really.

Ready? On three...

One, two, three...

I am a quiet type, I think.

But I needed to do the job that I was there for.

Towards you a bit.

I suppose that's part of the adrenaline, though.

Cos It was pumping all the way through... Um...

So you do become more confident.

He said it was his back.

And you don't know what they mean.

Has he broken his back

or broken his spine and he's not going to walk again?

In my mind I was, right, we are going to deal with it.

All these things go through your mind.

-Have you got the head?

-Yes.

Did I do the right things?

It's very hard as they are growing up to let them go...

-And you happy now then?

-Are you ready?

Do you want us to come up?

..but you try and make the right decision and they have

to find their own way. He's 12.

He needs to go and do and experience things.

193...

I'm quite...shy and don't really try anything new.

That's why I did the Scout trip.

Cos I knew there'd be, like, a lot

of challenges and stuff I could do.

I was quite nervous, but I went for it.

And I sort of panicked.

I forgot what I had to do, like keep straight,

and I sort of leant back, flipped, and landed on my back.

I was really scared.

Cos you know that something's gone wrong.

Can you get that over there, mate? It's already on site.

Right, you are going to have to take both,

cos I'm going to have to stay with the boat.

-All right, have you got the end?

-Yeah.

I just wanted to get out and just go home and see my mum.

Cos I thought my mum would be worried and my dad would be worried

and I didn't know how bad the injury was.

So I just did what they told me and kept still.

Right, let's get out of here.

With Liam safely transferred into the care of the Royal Navy medics,

the crew return to base.

Back to the day job.

Yeah, back to the day job.

What do you do?

Uh, I'm a cleaner, uh, health centre.

-So...

-Does that have...

-Is there room for adrenaline surges there?

-No!

It's just...

You carry on doing what you need to do.

Though the vast majority of UK lifeboat stations are on the coast,

the busiest station is actually here in Central London

on the River Thames.

Yahoo! Pizza!

It's so busy that the station has to be staffed around the clock.

Volunteers do 12-hour shifts led by two full-timers.

It's definitely got its own... own vibe at Tower.

At our station we are literally living, eating,

sleeping with each other.

That sounds very wrong!

We are... We are very much in each other's pockets all the time.

So, this is our bunk room, um, which, by day,

stores all the mattresses and beds.

And then on night shifts,

the crew...all sleep in different rooms.

So our helm will be in this main room because it's right next

to where we will get the call.

You know, we are here for 12 hours at a time,

so there is generally, you know, on most shifts,

a wee bit of downtime.

-But you never say the "Q-word" because that always...

-Quiet!

No!

Dare I ask you what the Q-word is?

The Q-word, the Q-word is quiet.

Because of that, we will now be on the boat all night.

It's no bad thing to come off a night shift

having managed to get a decent sleep.

Um, at the same time it's always...you know,

exciting to get called out, so...

There hasn't always been a lifeboat station on the Thames.

New figures have been released in the past hour of victims

of the Thames pleasure boat disaster.

25 bodies have been recovered and it's believed

that 38 of the passengers are still missing.

The Marchioness had sunk in 22 seconds, leaving no trace.

Early on, a body was discovered at Hammersmith,

eight miles from where the Marchioness went down.

The police hope that all the bodies of those still missing

will be found. Eventually, they say, the river gives up its dead.

At the final count, the sinking of the Marchioness pleasure cruiser

claimed the lives of 51 people.

So many souls were lost and sadly the rescue network was not there

that could deal with that incident, that number of mass casualties.

The Marchioness tragedy led to lifeboats being introduced

to the Thames.

In 14 years, the team has saved over 250 lives.

If you went to some hard-core coastal lifeboat,

they'd sort of say Thames isn't lifeboating.

Because there's no waves, there's no breaking surf

and you don't go 25 miles off and it's not dangerous

from that point of view, and it isn't. But it is water

and it is cold and it is fast flowing and it's dangerous.

You mix depth with fast flowing with cold,

and you've got the perfect combinations for sort of human disaster.

2:50am.

Two boys have been spotted in the water near Westminster Bridge.

The crew is expected to be up and off the station within 90 seconds.

There has to be that regimented approach.

The Thames is an immensely dangerous place, literally seconds count.

You can see people disappear in front of you and to witness

people going subsurface as you arrive and not get them back,

it really, really sucks.

There is a wee bit of your heart gets lost

when you don't manage to save someone.

The majority of people who die in cold water are dead

in the first three minutes of immersion.

That's called cold water shock and it's crippling in its effects.

The initial thing it does is produce that massive gasp,

and after that, then a really fast breathing rate,

which crucially, you can't hold your breath.

London Coastguard, London Coastguard.

So if you are trapped and being pulled under,

you are still breathing hard.

So even if you want to, you can't hold your breath.

Clarification, mate.

It doubles your central blood pressure.

It massively speeds up your heart.

All of which can cause an instant cardiac arrest.

If you survive those three minutes,

what happens next to you is the effect of being in the water

and that's something we call peripheral cooling and swim failure.

Your arms and legs over the next 20 to 30 minutes start not to work.

Cold water does kill.

It's really brutal, it doesn't take any prisoners.

There you are.

Yeah, we got him.

The crew arrive on scene to find two young men

who appear entirely unperturbed by the water temperature.

Hiya! Hi.

We're going to help you, OK? We are going to help you. Yeah, yeah.

-Just hang on.

-One minute. How did you get in there?

They've jumped over the wall and they've fallen a good

20, 30 foot into what is a metre of water.

Chaps... Oi, listen!

You are coming out.

There is an element of frustration at the stupidity.

Chaps.

To put yourself in a position where it's quite easy to kill yourself.

All we're interested in is getting you out and ashore.

So, the minute they behaved like kids, I'll behave like a dad.

I am only interested in getting you ashore, end of.

You know, "Come on, you're getting out, let's go."

Right, what's your name?

-In you go.

-All right.

-Here you go.

Why was one of them naked?

I have no idea, I...

Yeah, it adds a different dynamic to it.

Sit right down for me.

-Come here.

-Please, don't leave, I promise you, I promise...

I don't want to cry.

What's your name?

Where's my watch and my hat?

We're going to help you with them. Were you wearing them in the water?

Suddenly, you start to put the picture together - you've got

two guys, stood in the Thames at three o'clock in the morning,

talking a load of drivel,

and behaving in the most altered way, and it's like, "Ah, OK.

"Well, maybe they've had something which isn't just alcohol."

We're here to help you, OK?

But obviously, drugs and water combined are not the safest

environment to, er, to have your trip in, that's for sure.

I'm not going to kiss you.

It was quite hard to have a conversation with either of those casualties.

I'm not sure there was a lot of conversing.

Hey, look at me.

That's because I've got a nice big blanket on you.

How did you end up in the water?

You ARE naked!

Come on.

Have you had anything to drink tonight?

Look at me.

Have you had LSD?

Never?

We have a very close working relationship with the marine police.

They bring in policing powers.

You know what I'm going to do?

I'm just going to put some handcuffs on you.

But for a lot of people who do get handcuffed,

it's primarily for their own protection, and then the protection

of those trying to help them.

Stay calm for me, OK?

'I would not want to end up naked in the Thames.'

-Come on.

-LSD.

I don't think that anyone would look at that situation and think,

"Oh, yeah, that looks like the best night ever!"

OK. Four steps.

-I'm...

-Big steps. One, two, three, four.

I think there's always a sense of relief.

If you can hand someone over with a pulse and breathing,

then happy days. You know, you've done what you've desired

and set out to do.

You could say, you know, they are completely under the influence

-of drugs...

-Yeah.

-..in the water.

-Therefore, they're not in any fit state to look after themselves.

-No.

-I put it down...

-Just like right on the edge.

I put it down as life saved.

As much as it's just a board with hooks,

and bits of laminated number on it,

it's something that kind of quantifies what you're doing

and, actually, seeing that number of lives saved,

that number creeping up, is actually a really nice feeling.

They'll be fun in A&E, won't they?

Yeah. "I can see a white rabbit! I can see a white rabbit!"

"Yes, yes, you can. Now, go back to sleep, little boy."

They have no clue how lucky they are.

Tomorrow morning, Jenny will have to travel back to Oxford University

to work on her International Development PhD.

'That can be quite tiring,

'but I wouldn't enjoy spending all day, every day,

'reading books and being in the library.'

It's really, really refreshing to come and to push myself

in different ways.

-Oh!

-You're welcome to have tea.

No, I'm good, cos I could just get a good four and a half hours.

Oh!

For me, I mean, this is my hobby, so this is my downtime,

um, and this is what I do to recharge.

This is what sets me back up for the rest of life.

On the Thames, the average shout is just over a mile away.

In Eastbourne, they have to cover not only 12 miles of coastline,

but also halfway out across the English Channel,

where in summer, there are many hundreds of boats

on the water every day.

I remember when I first took over as second cox and then,

the first time I had the boat, I stood on the seafront

and just looked out on the English Channel and you think,

"Well, if something goes wrong out there, it's down to me."

Mark has a £1.5 million boat for emergencies on rough seas,

and a team of 45 volunteers.

Jim is one of the youngest on the team.

He met his girlfriend Jaga when she was a volunteer lifeguard.

How long have you been together?

Four years and...two months?

-Yes.

-Yes!

They all like playing boats, um, but at the end of the day,

it's a lot of dedication.

It's exciting knowing that that pager could go off any minute,

he could then have a shout and then

he's going off and saving some lives.

I think that's quite incredible.

Um, no, I wouldn't change it, so...

Good answer.

As soon as that pager goes off,

he knows that he's going to suddenly shoot out the door,

so he starts whining and whimpering and chasing him round the house,

wondering what's happening.

Has he ever not got his pager on?

-Good boy, aren't you a good boy?

-Shower. Sleeping.

-Yeah.

Er, my own routine, it's phone, keys, wallet, pager,

and then glasses. As long as I've got all of those, I'm sorted.

It's 10pm, and as the wind picks up,

a yacht has radioed the coastguard

to report that it's experiencing engine problems.

The volunteers have been put on standby.

PHONE RINGS

Good evening, coastguard station?

I was just watching 24. It's a TV series.

And then, I heard it all start, so I thought I'd come down.

-I never got into 24.

-It's quite good, actually.

Out at sea, the yachtsmen haven't been able to fix their engine...

ALARM SOUNDS

..and the coastguard requests the lifeboat to launch.

When it first came in, they were seven miles off.

So, I don't know, 10-15 minutes maximum.

I like being out on the water,

having all the salt and water over your face.

I think the only thing that scares me with the sea is drowning.

I would hate to drown,

cos you'd be basically dying in the thing you love.

Spotlight, do you want the spotlight?

Do you fear drowning?

Yes.

Yeah.

Five and a half miles to go!

We've been out to enough people that have unfortunately

lost their lives to drowning and it's...

It's not nice.

That's why we get out there so quick.

Oh, good. Roger that. Er, you will pass us a tow line.

-Ready?

-Ready.

The yacht is crewed by an Italian, German and a Dutchman,

who have just started a round-the-world trip.

There's a loop on the end of that line.

They began in Holland and have managed to cross the Channel,

but now they're drifting and are unable to get to land.

They had lost drive, they had limited steerage.

They were going to try and get to Brighton,

but the weather was so difficult, the wind and tide,

trying to beat against it.

The safest option was just to call for help.

It takes just over an hour for the lifeboat crew

to tow the yacht back to the safety of the harbour.

-Thank you very much.

-Oh, you're more than welcome.

So the engine just runs at high revs?

Yeah, total system failure. I cannot engage, disengage.

Not good enough if you want to go into a harbour, I think.

That's fine.

What happens now?

Go home. Go to sleep.

The sea's probably the least regulated place you are.

You can just go and buy a boat and go and drive it up and down

with absolutely no clue about what you're doing.

It's not the brightest idea on the planet, but you can do it.

I think that makes it the last sort of frontier, really.

People can go out and can just do what they want to do.

Unfortunately, you could spin the coin

and say there's regulations about everything to keep people safe

and that's why we get the instances at sea that we get,

because, actually, they can go out and be free

and then they can get into trouble.

Last night's rescued yachtsmen have persuaded their partners

to let them go on a year-long round-the-world trip.

Less than a week into their adventure,

they're stuck in Eastbourne harbour.

Francesca, I'm sorry. Scusami!

My girlfriend, when I said, "I leave my job,"

she said, "And now what do you want to do?"

"I want to do my first trip around the world."

And she said, "Bye-bye, bye-bye."

"No, Francesca, no. Io ritorno! I will come back."

-So, you give up your girlfriend...

-Yeah.

-..just for this dream?

-Yeah.

Yes, it's a big dream.

And it might be just a dream, but we are going to try.

If you're not scared by the adventure,

then you're not clever about it.

It is a little bit scary.

Last night, we definitely needed help.

Better safe than sorry to, er, to call in those guys,

cos they know what they're doing and, at that point, we didn't know.

But once you accept that line, you...you will be saved.

That's the good part of it, so that's the most important,

but you also have to admit a little bit of failure,

so that's hard to do. But you have to do it.

In Torbay, the lifeboat crew

don't only have to look after thrill-seekers.

For generations,

Brixham has been home to one of the UK's largest fishing fleets.

My dad was a milkman and, um,

I-I, I had a milk round when I first left school.

But I didn't really like it. It wasn't what I wanted to do.

I just wanted to go to sea.

When you were at school when I was growing up,

if you didn't have a family member who was part of a fishing fleet,

you weren't cool at school.

Um, I was lucky - my uncle was a fisherman and I just wanted to be like him.

Before becoming a full-time RNLI coxswain,

Mark spent seven years working on fishing and tug boats.

It's a lonely place.

You know, when it goes wrong at sea, you can't walk out of trouble,

you can't swim away from trouble,

you're reliant on someone to come and help you.

It makes you appreciate

and makes you want to go out and help other people.

In 2008, Mark won a bravery award for leading

a rescue to the Greek cargo ship, the Ice Prince.

The 6,500-tonne vessel began to capsize 26 miles out in rough sea.

The weather was poor, not a nice day, long way out to sea, big ship.

Pitch-black.

And then, when we got on the scene, there was a very, very weird scene

where you see a boat of that size rolling so heavily

that you think, every time it rolls, it's not going to recover.

We spoke to the ship's captain and said, you know,

"What are you going to do, Captain?"

He said, "No, I'm abandoning ship, I need to get off this boat."

And, you know, after about 50-odd attempts,

we managed to get all eight crew members off.

We had one fall in, down between the boats,

which was probably the most sickening feeling you ever want

as a skipper, because I thought that we'd killed him.

Lucky enough, as the boat rolled,

it scooped him back up and he managed to scramble back up

the deck, then we carried on and took the rest off and

brought them back into Brixham.

At the time, it wasn't frightening, it wasn't scary,

but the next day, I can honestly say that I couldn't stop shaking.

And I didn't know why.

I was, you know, just having breakfast in the morning and

I couldn't keep my legs still, it was just shaking.

I thought that was a reminder then that this is real and it

could have gone a different... down a different avenue.

SIREN BLARES

The pager has gone off again.

A family with young children are in trouble.

Their speedboat is sinking.

Michelle is the first at the station.

You won't hear the siren very often,

depending on which way the wind's blowing.

But people come in where they've heard it and said,

"Oh, the siren's just gone off."

And what goes through your mind?

Nothing. I don't know, I don't know if she's been picked,

if she was there in time to go...

I can't worry all the time.

I would have been in my grave 20 years ago!

She would be a very sad individual if she didn't have the lifeboat.

It's as simple as that.

-Do you really think that?

-Yes, I do.

She'd be definitely missing something in her life.

SIREN BLARES

I don't know, it's just something exciting, to break up what

can be sometimes a bit...sometimes a bit dull of a life.

Everyone needs excitement in their life.

I just maybe need a little bit more than some people.

I don't know, I just like the unknown of what's going to happen.

I just really enjoy that.

It sounds like a speedboat sunk. There's six people on board.

The speedboat was reported to be in trouble in the waves by

a small cove. That was 12 minutes ago.

The sea's come over the back of the boat, filled the boat up,

the back of the boat's gone down first and, er, ended up sinking.

Basically, lack of experience, you know,

set out for a jolly on a probably newly-acquired speedboat,

but, you know, that sort of boat can sink in seconds.

Any boat can sink in seconds.

Just before the lifeboat arrived,

a passing dive boat spotted the Polish family clinging to the

side of their sinking speedboat and pulled them to safety.

The kind of boat that is, it wouldn't have a radio.

So, lucky that he's around and he's obviously seen it.

Quite fortunate.

You know, it was only three or four months ago, we had a fatality.

You know, the same thing, so, you know...

we don't want anything like that again.

-MAN:

-OK, big step. Hold my hand first.

Another big step.

-MARK:

-'We'd had a really bad incident recently,'

where a boat had capsized and a young girl lost her life and,

you know, we were all quite raw after that.

You know, brave lifeboatmen don't cry.

That's rubbish. I do.

And I did.

And I'm not ashamed to say that - it made me cry.

Is it going to keep me awake at night? No, it's not.

We did everything we could.

But I'm not going to forget that and,

in 20, 30, 40 years' time, I ain't going to forget it.

-Did you say it capsize, or...?

-Yeah.

I turned round and just caught it.

Basically, they've taken the stern...

-Right.

-..too close in to the beach.

-Oh, they've done that, have they?

We've called out and they're all clinging to the other side of it.

Did they have any...? I see they haven't got any jackets now.

-Did they have any?

-I don't think the kids could swim, either.

There were two little girls. Neither of them could swim.

'None of them were wearing life jackets'

and it was just like...

"What are you doing?" sort of thing.

It was just...

What could've happened in that situation is really quite scary.

Really lucky that didn't end in a fatality, that one.

He isn't too happy about his boat, but I just said to him,

"Look, you know, you can go and buy a boat,

"but you need to buy some life jackets for the kids and for yourselves."

And he's saying he'll do that next time but, you know,

"What about my boat?"

I said, "Well, you can't replace the kids, can you?"

I said, "The boat can be replaced," and, er, I think he's sort of

realised that he made a bit of a mistake, you know.

It's only the second time they've used it.

So...there we are.

Michelle's commitment to the lifeboat means she's now

carried out nearly 60 rescues.

I was like, "I want to get married on the lifeboat, and I'd like

"the lifeboat to take me to my reception."

Your wedding dress would have to be yellow, wouldn't it?

-SHE LAUGHS:

-Yeah!

I'd need to rip off the bottom, so you could get in your...

Could just put your wellies on over the top.

You're only missing one little ingredient, though, aren't you?

-You need to find a man!

-I need to find somebody to marry first!

-Yeah.

That's the only bit you're missing, is the man!

Mostly, Saturdays, I come down and do some work on the boats,

just to keep it up and running and clean.

Right, that's that done.

Otherwise, what would you be doing?

Sitting watching TV.

It's like a calming effect, I believe it has on you.

Alan has spent the last 15 years of his life volunteering.

He lives at home with his mother.

Hello.

-It's, um, a good relationship, because...

-We go either way.

-Well, we go our own ways.

-Own ways.

-Yes.

And, um, sometimes he's in, sometimes he's not, and, um...

-I know he would like his own pad, but...

-That's right.

-..he will do one day.

-Yeah, one day.

-One day, one day.

-And with it so close to the beach, the sea, the station...

-So convenient.

The Eastbourne station's patch includes the area around the

cliffs of Beachy Head.

It means the volunteers have had to get used to death more than most.

You know, Beachy Head claims all sorts of victims, really.

You've got the seagoing victims, boats hitting the ledge,

you know, people getting cut off by the tide and,

for whatever reason, people have been up to Beachy Head and

decided to do what they want to do.

People do...do end their lives.

I think it's so sad, when they go over the top.

They must be desperate.

I think the saddest thing was, a few years ago, a mother and father

went over with their baby, and I think that's so sad.

And...like the one Alan had a few years ago with the car...

I mean, they must be desperate to do that.

That was on October the 12th, 2012.

It's a, "Hereby record of appreciation of his initiative,

"compassion and exemplary first aid treatment of an unresponsive

"and seriously injured man at the foot of Beachy head."

We got round there and saw the car at the bottom.

The light was fading quite well, then.

So I swam in, er, to the beach.

I found the, um, the gentleman still alive.

He was still in his car.

He'd fallen...about 500 feet.

And he was still alive.

And I was talking to him all the time,

keeping my mind off other things, the tide coming in.

Unfortunately, he passed away about 12 hours after.

That's one of the most scariest I've done. Yeah.

That's the first time I've heard that.

-Yeah, cos I kept...

-He hasn't said a thing at all.

-I don't say much.

That's the first time I've heard that.

-Yeah, so...

-Yeah, so...

-It's...

It's surprising, yes.

So, you see, he doesn't tell... He doesn't talk about it, no.

I think, if you talk about it, then you will dwell on it.

I don't share. It's just the fact that we go out there,

we do our job, and we come back in.

Like many volunteers, Mark takes his work home with him.

That's the coastguards out now, up at Beachy Head.

They've actually got someone up the top,

sitting on the cliff edge, in a distressed state.

But, unfortunately, if it is something up there,

if the lifeboats are required, it's not usually

a case of getting away quickly, it's normally beyond that.

One hour later, the person has jumped.

Mark's going to the station to supervise Jim and the other

volunteers, who are going out to recover the body for the coroner.

-RADIO:

-'..has now landed down the beach, over.'

The first time, I was a bit curious for what it was like.

Not in a nasty way. I just wanted to see what...

-You think, "How am I going to take it?"

-That's it.

-WOMAN:

-All right?

-'It's easier just to turn off, innit?'

-'Yeah.'

Turn off, get on with it, um... think about it later, I suppose.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

For lifeboat crews all across the country,

dealing with death is as much a part of the job as saving lives.

You know, it's a...it's quite a strange thing, cos it's, um...

You end up having to put them into a body bag and stuff.

'It's worse looking at that than it is the person.'

It's, it's... It's sort of final.

You zip it up and that's it. It's...

The person's no longer there any more.

Yeah, it's quite strange emotions that you...you go through.

Helicopter's got it now, it's taken it from the beach up onto the top

to hand it over to the coastguards on the top of the cliffs.

RADIO CHATTER

There's the helicopter now.

It's airborne, up the top, so it should be coming.

There are occasions when you think,

"Oh, yeah, some things are best," you know, "best forgotten."

You don't want to dwell on things.

'But, yeah, certainly, there are occasions that,'

irrespective of how much you'd like to forget it, you can't.

The body recovery has taken four hours.

It's the fifth one Jim's been involved in.

It's not the nicest thing to do,

but it is part of Eastbourne Lifeboat.

You think of the families.

We're basically collecting their loved one on behalf of them.

So I'll always say the Lord's Prayer on the way back.

That's my little routine that I'll get into.

I've never told that to anyone. But once...

So, then, that's just my little thing...and that.

But that's as far as I go, cos I don't necessarily want to know,

cos then it might affect me even more.

The draw of the sea continues throughout life and death.

This morning, the Eastbourne crew is returning to Beachy Head.

They've been asked to scatter the ashes of an RNLI benefactor.

-You know, the wind's going that way.

-Yeah.

-The wind's going that way.

For as much as it has pleased Almighty God,

of his great mercy, to take unto himself the soul of his sister,

here departed, we therefore commit her ashes to the sea.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Just observe a minute's silence, please.

'Everyone seems to think that'

I'm going to have my ashes scattered at sea.

No, I'm going back to the farm where I grew up.

'I've spent my life, you know,

'striving to stay on top of the water, not in it.

'I don't like getting wet.'

You've got to go somewhere, haven't you? Might as well go somewhere where you enjoy.

My missus says I spend most of my time down there anyway,

so it doesn't matter!

The reason why we scattered them here was the fact that she

used to travel down to Eastbourne and spent many years

just sitting up there, just watching the world go by.

So, er, that's why it was done there. Thank you. It's all done.

-'Would you want your ashes scattered at sea?'

-'Er, yes, I would, yeah.'

I'm free to roam, then.

I could end up in the Caribbean.

The rescued yachtsmen are also dreaming of the Caribbean.

But their round-the-world trip has fallen far behind schedule.

It's my wife's birthday today.

The present will be in the mail. Also next year's present, still...

it will be another year.

The boys pulled from the Thames spent the night in hospital.

They were released without charge and have now returned to university.

Marcin's boat was a write-off, but he's not giving up on his dream.

And after his coasteering accident led to a major sea rescue,

Liam's made a full recovery.

We got home and we sat on the sofa together and I just didn't

want to let him go, I didn't want to let him go out of my sight,

I didn't want him to go upstairs. I was following him around!

-Are you dreading the day he leaves home?

-Yeah.

I'm hoping he's going to stay at home for ever,

till he's at least 30!

Liam is still intending to go on next year's Scout trip.

I think I'm going to do, like, roughly the same sort of stuff,

just hopefully with no accidents this time.

My feet are staying on dry land.