Episode 3 Saving Lives at Sea

This programme contains some strong language.

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's unpredictable.

Brace!

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.

SIREN WAILS 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're just an ordinary person,

the next minute you're a lifeboat crew member.

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

Wouldn't even like to think what would happen

if there was no-one there.

I was waiting for death,

but a guardian angel came.

To save someone's life is a privilege.

You feel like you're 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 lifeboatmen don't cry.

Rubbish. I do.

Treating every call-out as a matter of life and death.

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

Blackpool is one of Britain's most popular seaside resorts.

More than ten million tourists visit every year...

..making it one of the busiest lifeboat stations in the country.

What are you guys doing right now?

Technically,

it is surveying the area, making sure no-one's in danger.

Unofficially, it's sitting here waiting for a call-out.

In the height of summer,

they don't have to wait too long.

ALARM BEEPING

Mid-afternoon, the alarm goes off.

The coastguard has received a call

saying a drunk man has been seen jumping off one of the town's piers.

Within minutes of the call coming in...

Ready?

..two crew members are already launching.

We get a lot of drink-related incidents.

They come to Blackpool,

they go out on the drink,

and then decide they want to swim the Irish Sea.

ENGINES ROAR

They think they're invincible.

It doesn't always have a good outcome.

Nationally, the men and women of the RNLI

spend nearly half a million hours a year at sea,

helping those in peril.

Sean's been volunteering for more than 20 years.

I'm a big believer that you work cos you have to,

you volunteer cos you want to.

And if you didn't want to do the job, you wouldn't answer the pager.

Today, even though it's summer,

the sea temperature in Blackpool is only 15 degrees.

It's not the Caribbean Sea or anything like that.

Can be quite chilly.

Someone jumps off the pier, it's going to take their breath away.

And that's when you get the cold water shock.

That's when things can go wrong.

-He's in the middle?

-Yeah, yeah.

Hello?!

MAN SHOUTS

'We couldn't see anything initially.'

'And we were naturally looking on the surface of the water.'

Oh, right, hello, what are you doing up there?

HE CHUCKLES

Colin's been a volunteer here for 21 years.

'We do get our fair amount of people

'that have probably had a bit too much to drink.

'And you just have to deal with them like any other person.'

You got him?

I'd say, 95% of the people that we go to

don't realise the danger they've got themselves into.

And all he was concerned about was, I want my jacket,

let's go and get my jacket.

'Don't worry about that, let's get you off.'

What did you do, jump off the pier?

Ask them, mate, they'll know.

-Did he jump off the pier?

-Yeah.

What possessed you to do that?

Working in Blackpool, nothing's going to surprise you,

picking some people up.

Some people, just because now they've called us out

and they're thinking, what was an initial prank,

have tried to then think, I'd better make out that I am injured

and there's something wrong.

But you get wise to that.

-He was right up inside the pier, in the middle.

-What was he, swimming?

He jumped off the pier, the bloody idiot.

Some of our family members think, you must be stupid,

trying to save someone who's drunk.

I don't think of it like that.

I was just doing what I do, you know.

We'd just sat down in restaurant, we were just about to order drinks,

when it all went pear-shaped.

And now I've got to ring the wife up and see where she is,

again.

At any given time across Britain...

..there are 5,000 people carrying RNLI pagers.

I'm sure a lot of people think that we just sit around the boat edge

drinking cups of tea until the pager goes off.

Everybody at the station is a volunteer,

most of us have to earn a living.

These men and women must be prepared to drop whatever they're doing

at a moment's notice.

Forget everything, lifeboat's happening.

I've run out of Asda, the security think we're shoplifting,

cos we're running out the shop.

People turn up in various states of dress and undress.

SIRENS

Some of them might be working nights and turn up in their pyjamas

or their onesie. And I'll turn up in a three-piece suit.

We're about the most random collection of people

that you'll ever find, but... it works.

For the people of Newquay on the Cornish coast,

lifeboating is in the blood.

It's been that way for over 150 years.

My great uncle was the cox in the old rowing and sailing lifeboat

in Newquay back in the 1900s.

His son is one of the helmsman.

It's a real family tradition.

And now Shaunna's following on as another generation.

Just 18, Geoff's granddaughter Shaunna has decided to

follow in his footsteps.

Round that way.

She's been spending the past few months learning the ropes.

Then the tighter that pulls, the tighter it'll grip.

I've always wanted to join, ever since I was like five.

Every time the pager went off

I used to run down the harbour with grandad.

Used to have to learn to tie it behind your back.

Come on, then.

-Right, go for it.

-Come on, old man.

'I think it is in my blood.

'If you cut me open, there might be a lot of saltwater in there,

'cos I've swallowed quite a bit in my time.'

THEY LAUGH

With its long beaches and rolling waves,

Newquay is a mecca for experienced surfers

and body boarders,

and those wanting to give it a go.

But the big swells that make the area good for surfing

don't come without their dangers.

They also create strong, fast-flowing rip currents...

..that can drag unsuspecting swimmers out to sea.

We get quite a lot of riptides, particularly on the north coast

where we get a very high tidal range.

The waves wash in on the beach,

and the water has to go back out to sea somewhere.

And it tends to go back out to sea

in very, very narrow channels.

The lifeguards are experienced, they can recognise the riptides.

A lot of people can't.

DOG BARKS

ALARM WAILS

Shortly before 7pm...

..the alarm sounds.

Shaunna's spent months practising the drill.

This is the first time she's getting to do it for real.

It's a good feeling to think, oh, this is me,

I can actually try and show people what I can do.

If she's going to do it, she's got to stand on her own feet.

You can't protect people, and say well,

you don't go on this shout because it might be a nasty one.

Two teenagers have been spotted being dragged out to sea

by a strong rip current.

It's a bit like trying to walk against a conveyor belt.

You carry on swimming as if you're trying to get back to the shore...

The reality is you're getting further and further out.

You'll get tired, and eventually you'll just slip under the water

and drown.

We've seen people in flat, calm conditions

disappear in a riptide...

never to be seen again.

People don't actually realise how easy it is to drown.

We get a lot of holiday-makers that come down and they think,

I've just seen someone surf, I want to give it a go.

But sometimes they underestimate the power of the sea.

Falmouth Coastguard, Newquay ILB.

We're about halfway through, can see Porth beach.

A report comes in that a teenage boy has made it to safety...

..but his little sister is still missing.

I knew that if she was panicking,

she'd obviously get tired even more,

and the sea would drag her under,

and carry on taking her further out.

ENGINE ROARS

Seven minutes after the alarm was raised,

the crew finally spot the girl.

Hold on!

CAMERAWOMAN GROANS

She's been pulled out of the rip by an experienced surfer...

..but she's struggling to breathe.

Have you inhaled a lot of water?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Newquay 3, Newquay RB, we've got one casualty,

requires a check over, has inhaled quite a lot of saltwater, over.

Despite being rescued,

the crew know that the young girl's condition

could still quickly deteriorate.

You don't feel dizzy or anything?

You DO feel dizzy.

'You can ingest quite a bit of water and feel OK at the time.'

But there's a thing called secondary drowning,

and if you get saltwater into your lungs, even very small amounts,

as much as the following day it can have quite a serious impact on you.

Newquay 3, Newquay RB, yeah, could you bring the oxygen down?

The casualty is feeling dizzy, over.

Roger, no problem, over.

'Salt in your lungs actually draws the fluid into your lungs

'and it's called secondary drowning

'because that's exactly what you're doing.

'If you've ingested a lot of water,

'the advice is always seek medical advice.'

Either go and see your local doctor,

or go to the A&E and get it checked out,

because it can be fatal.

A paramedic has been called to take her to hospital.

-PARAMEDIC:

-How are you doing? Have you been in difficulty?

-Yeah.

OK, let's get you ashore and have a proper look at you. Are you cold?

The experience of being caught in a rip

is not one that's easy to forget.

Falmouth, Newquay, over.

OK, let's get you in and have a look at your chest, then, yeah?

I'm a bit scared of the sea, now.

SHE LAUGHS

Just take your time, there.

We were all like messing around on the surfboards

and jumping in like the waves and that,

cos they were big waves.

And then I could see my brother struggling,

like he was getting tired.

I went with the surfboard,

and I put him on the surfboard.

And then I tried grabbing the front of the surfboard

to swim back to shore. But this wave came over our heads.

When you're under the wave,

you don't think anything, you just panic.

And cos me and my brother are so close,

I was just thinking that I can't lose my brother.

Because he's older than me,

I think he was a bit embarrassed

that his 14-year-old sister had to help him.

He was really thankful and everything.

But then like a week later, he was like...

..I don't want to talk about it.

SHE LAUGHS

All right guys, lovely job.

OK, thank you.

You just realise how fragile life is, really,

and how fragile you are as a person.

And we're not all invincible.

Even though the kids think they are.

I hope it's made them realise they're not...

so they'll be more careful.

All right?

As the crew return to shore,

Shaunna has passed her first test.

She's really keen and it's nice to get the first one out the way,

I think. And then you feel part of the crew then

because you've actually done it, so...

'I grew up looking at him as a role model.'

-Made it.

-First one!

Cos I used to look up to him and think, oh, he's saving people.

-Up to about here?

-Yeah!

And now I get to think that's me and I've learnt all my ways

from my grandad.

-See you in a bit.

-See you in a bit.

'She's really a very good part of the team.'

I think her own favourite saying is

part of the ship, part of the crew.

It's not just Britain's seaside resorts the RNLI protect.

Volunteers cover even the most far-flung areas

of the UK's 11,000 miles of coastline...

..manning more than 200 stations.

Let's see.

So we hope to have a peaceful day.

-This is what we're hoping for, a peaceful Friday.

-Yep.

No dramas.

Station manager John and mechanic Peter

are keeping watch in Oban,

a fishing village on the west coast of Scotland.

Until you're in the job yourself...

people don't realise just how tiring it is.

If you're always wanting to be away somewhere or going to the pub,

or whatever, it's not the job for you.

It's absolutely not.

Yep, that's the reality.

While the coastline around Scotland looks picturesque,

it is actually some of the most treacherous in Europe.

There's the same below the water as there is above

and you see the mountains and all the rest of its,

they're exactly the same reversed.

You have to know where you are.

On the south coast of England,

it tends to be mud and sand.

Here it tends to be rock,

and if you hit something,

then it tends to be...sore.

With average sea temperatures of only ten degrees...

..life expectancy for anyone

unlucky enough to end up in the water

is under an hour.

To do battle with the elements,

Oban has a £1,500,000 all-weather lifeboat,

built to withstand the worst the sea can throw at it.

When it's rough and wet...

HE LAUGHS

The weather conditions are part of the job.

It's part of what you sign up for

and you know what you're coming into when you do it.

It's not for everyone.

There are 25 volunteers on the Oban crew.

At just 18,

Andrew is the station's newest,

and by far its youngest recruit.

At first it was a bit strange.

Everyone else feels so much older than you.

And you do still feel like a bit of a kid.

My boy.

But now I've got a little bit of experience.

It doesn't make too much of a difference.

Nights out, I can stay out a lot longer than some of them.

You're in the water, you can't do anything for yourself...

Yeah, you're unconscious.

Well, unconscious, yeah.

-CAMERAWOMAN:

-Does everyone have to go in the water at some point?

Oh, yes. Have you done it?

-Absolutely, and you're next.

-You're next!

Andrew's has been on the crew a year.

But as the rookie,

he's drawn the short straw on this training exercise.

Ignore the scream when I hit the water.

Man overboard.

You don't look too unconscious to me.

Sometimes you can say it's a little bit daunting,

but it doesn't scare you per se.

'Most of the time you sort of realise you're surrounded by guys'

who are all looking out for each other, and all know what they're doing

and are well-trained to deal with anything.

You're just trying to be, like, manly and tough.

Good, well done.

-Thanks John.

-No worries.

LAUGHTER

The Met office on behalf of the Maritime and coastguard agency,

Malin, southeasterly 5-7, perhaps gale 8 later in south-west.

Showers then thunder...

Whenever a storm is forecast at sea,

all the volunteers sleep lightly in their beds.

South, 4 or 5, becoming variable, 3 or 4.

BLEEPING

At 4:00am, the pagers go off.

It doesn't matter how tired you are,

the minute you hear the pager go off you're just bolt upright and awake

and getting dressed and out the door before you know what's happening.

If you hear taking on water,

suddenly the whole atmosphere in the room just changes

and everyone's a lot more serious.

In the midst of the storm,

the fishing vessel has accidentally run into an outcrop of rock.

It's punctured the boat hull and water is flooding in.

Did he say it was in behind the island, was he?

This side of the island?

It's not a great bit of water round about there,

just a lot of headlands, lots of tide.

Yeah, this is a classic.

You've done a few from here, John.

The stricken vessel is taking on water all the time

and the lifeboat crew know it could sink at any minute.

Boats only go so fast.

You're just wishing that you could, like,

double the speed because you can sense

things are deteriorating.

It's difficult at night-time,

you know, the dark makes the whole job ten times more difficult.

There you go, you're on 16.

45 minutes after the alarm was raised,

the lifeboat is nearing the location of the sinking vessel.

She'd obviously gone aground quite hard,

she was sitting at quite an angle,

kind of bulwarks, stern still down in the water.

With rocks just below the surface all around,

it's not safe to take the lifeboat any closer

in case it is holed, too.

It's a decision you make in the time,

you get close enough to see the fishing vessel

but not too close as to put the lifeboat in danger.

PUMP WHIZZES

While the crew prepare the inflatable rib,

the skipper of the stricken vessel radios in.

As the fishing boat takes on more water,

the situation worsens.

Despite the danger of being swept onto the rocks,

the skipper's got no choice but to take his chances in the liferaft.

It's not a decision you take lightly when you're the skipper of a boat.

Abandoning the boat is not high up, you know,

on the list of things that you would generally do.

The fishermen have only two small paddles

to keep the liferaft from being blown against the rocks.

Lewis. I think we're all on the liferaft

so they'll just be towing the liferaft out.

With the fishermen struggling to make headway,

skipper John deploys the inflatable craft.

OK, mate, we'll just creep a wee bit closer to you and try to get to you.

OK?

I was in the little dinghy.

Me and Lewis went over and took the painter from the liferaft.

We towed them across.

OK, no problem, no problem.

OK, guys, there's a wee break in the rail here, so just go steady here

a wee second. Let me just get you in and held alongside.

Just take your time.

I mean, with fishermen, they're quite hardy

so they had their heads about them,

but you can see they were a bit frightened.

Up the stern to me, there, pal.

The fishermen have reached the safety of the lifeboat.

LOUD RUMBLE

But just in the nick of time.

The boat's just what?

Oh, shit.

Oh, you bastard.

In a matter of seconds,

the fishing vessel has disappeared beneath the waves.

I think it was the tide fell behind it

and then the whole boat just slipped back and rolled over.

The whole boat's gone.

'It sank like a stone after that.'

-FISHERMAN:

-Christ, good decision to get off.

Aye, good decision to get off.

The whole boat's gone.

That's a pretty sobering thing,

to realise that, you know, not less than five or ten minutes before,

those crew had been on there.

If they had been, they'd have been done for.

So we got there just in time, really.

At the time I didn't know what to think

because I just couldn't believe it,

the crew and myself,

it was just a shock.

You know, something that's always been there for us all

to suddenly disappear.

We could have had men in the compartments of the boat

doing things when it rolled over, people could have been trapped,

it could have been oh, so different.

I can remember looking around

and seeing how heartbroken they all looked.

The whole way back I'm still trying to process it in my head

that I just watched something sink...

..and that was a little bit frightening.

For the older volunteers,

facing those fears

has become something they've had to get used to.

Anyone that goes lifeboating for a length of time

is going to come up against that. It's a horrible feeling that.

During one callout a few months ago,

it wasn't just the people they were rescuing who ended up in danger.

A sailing yacht called the Classic Wave

had run aground not far from Oban.

It wasn't a particularly nice day.

He started taking in water.

I went across with a pump to stop pumping it out.

There was three guys in the boat and myself.

It was quite rough,

there was quite big seas running in,

and she took a couple of big bumps and just...

the bottom of the boat just disintegrated.

One guy got off and then, before we could get off,

it just basically sat upright and sank like a stone.

My life jackets didn't operate as they should've done

and I basically just went under.

and then I've thought...

Fuck.

As the boat sank, I could see Ped actually getting pulled under...

..and I thought, "I'm going to lose him today."

You know what's going on, you're going down.

I remember thinking, as I was under the water,

"Fuck this, I'm going home for my tea."

And I basically went for the surface.

It just didn't occur to me to be scared,

you just have to get on with it.

I was going home for my tea, so it wasn't an option.

We were very fortunate not to lose him that day.

I still think about it.

You know...

It's, it's, erm...

We came really close that day.

And, er...

Yeah. I think about it often...

..you know, for sure.

The fishing vessel might have been lost,

but, as dawn breaks,

there's the welcome sight of Oban harbour.

The main thing is that I brought all the men home.

That is the most important thing.

Sorry for your loss, boys.

Thank you very much.

The boat, although it's a great loss,

is only a piece of machinery at the end of the day and can be replaced.

There's been a few terrible accidents near this area.

My best friend was lost over six years ago.

We were only fishing ten mile from them

and we heard word and we searched for an hour and a half

before they found everybody.

There was only one survivor.

There is fatalities, and that is the sad truth of the job.

We'll try and be as safe as we can, but things do happen.

I know a lot of guys, guys in this crew who work at sea,

who work on boats.

The sea's got its own community and...

..generally speaking everybody wants to help everybody else,

I suppose the same as everywhere.

Saving lives and risking death

binds volunteers together at all of the UK's lifeboat stations.

You don't want to see this!

The crew members become your best friends.

Standing here makes me looks taller.

You're getting called out at two, three, four, five in the morning.

You're all working together on that common goal,

it bonds you stronger than you could ever imagine.

I've got a hose and I know how to use it. Oh-oh!

LAUGHTER

A lot of camaraderie, a lot of banter...

and we all have a good laugh, you know,

we work together really well,

and we socialise together quite a lot. So it's a good lot of lads.

Former RNLI volunteer Brent is a paramedic

who is hoping to rejoin the crew.

You want to be part of the community and it's a real community aspect

rather than, I suppose, just going down to the pub or going to the gym.

And it's meeting the people.

-Which I need at the moment.

-HE LAUGHS

He's moved back to his hometown of Blackpool

following the breakdown of his marriage.

When you're in a family unit,

and then...everything breaks down,

then I suppose it changes the outlook on life

and things can look quite bleak.

And things have changed so fast in your life

when one day you're doing something

and the next day everything's completely changed.

So, yeah, I suppose there's a need to meet new people

and meet new friends.

Today, he's at the lifeboat station to find out about his re-enrolment.

Things have changed since you were last here, the equipment's changed,

the personnel have changed,

the boats are different, so you'll have to get used to that.

And the easiest way for us to do it

-is to re-enrol you, but as shore crew.

-Yeah.

-Is that OK with you?

-Yeah, of course.

I'm going to give you the pager.

The noisy thing.

If it goes off, respond.

As shore crew,

Brent will assist with maintaining and launching the boats.

Good to have him back, yeah. At least if we don't know how things is

we can throw Brent in and see how deep it is.

LAUGHTER

ALARM RINGS

With daylight fading, the pagers go off.

Two, three, four!

But for now, Brent must watch from the sidelines.

A member of the public has called,

concerned for the safety of a fully clothed woman

they've seen walking out into the sea.

People that feel like they want to commit suicide,

it happens on a daily basis with...

..more people than it ever should.

Where is it?

Why some of them head to the sea...

..I don't know.

But, as the lifeboat institution,

we are there for the preservation of life.

40 metres!

Yeah.

-Shall we get out and get her?

-One sec.

Hold that.

Come on.

Come on. Come on.

There you go, that's it.

No, I'm not.

-You are.

-I'm not.

Yeah, I do.

When someone thinks that they don't want to be saved,

I just try to think if it was one of my children

that were saying they don't want to be saved.

I'd still want someone else to save them.

What've you done to your arm?

Have you?

We helped you out last year, didn't we?

Yeah?

OK, right, we're just going to get you the Land Rover.

Hello.

-Brent?

-Yeah, yeah.

I can't go back.

Brent, you want to sort her?

When can I go?

-You're

-OK. I need to go.

Look, it's Brent. You remember me. Come on. Look at me.

-One of the paramedics?

-I need to go.

-Listen, I always look after you, don't I?

-Yes, but I need to go.

-I want to go.

-You know I always look after you.

Why have you gone in the sea today?

You want to be with your mum?

All right.

People, when they're suffering from grief,

and they've lost...

they've lost a family member, are not going to act rationally.

And they need someone that's going to make them feel safe.

Can you just put your foot down here, is that all right?

How is that? Are you OK there?

Let's go in the warmth.

For the break-up of my relationship with my wife,

I'd been through some dark times and some upset,

some irrational thoughts of losing my children

or not having my children.

You've got some lovely tattoos. Don't be ever cutting those.

Have I?

-Is it? Is that what's got you down?

-Yeah.

I remember.

'Going through some of the things I've gone through in my life

makes you realise you need to show other people empathy,

and there are human beings that are in the darkest, darkest of places.

When you get through those times,

the struggle, the depression, the upset,

you then can draw upon those experiences to help others.

We've managed to calm her down.

She's going to come to hospital.

-Are you going to follow up?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

'There's a great satisfaction in being needed,

'and being required,

'and as human beings, we do want to be needed

'and we do want to help people.

'You want to wake up in the morning knowing that...

..somebody's going to need you today.'

What's this?

-Pager.

-What is it for?

Ringing emergencies.

What emergencies?

Water emergencies.

Water emergencies!

Then what're we doing? Then what're we doing?

Then we need to draw a big lead...

HORN PARPS

There's no greater feeling knowing that you've saved someone's life

or prevented some loss of life.

The only thing that ever comes close to it is seeing your child born,

something like that.

It's a...

It's a thrill, or an adrenaline rush.

I don't know, you just can't control it.

Most people leave the RNLI by getting pushed out the door.

Because they don't want to go.

You're hooked, you see, you love it.

Sean loves it so much

that he fits in up to ten hours of volunteering a week,

on top of his full-time job and family life.

Right, Oscar, no, you're not having that, I only did that to get you in.

-Hi, love.

-Hi, babe, you all right?

-Oh, fine, love, fine.

Same as usual. Ironing, washing.

Well, that's what you married me for.

LAUGHTER

Women are queueing up to be in your position, love.

Name one, love. I've said that to you before.

The lifeboat's the longest thing I've ever done.

Then I've got my son,

then I've got my wife,

and I've got my job.

So my wife comes third, which she's not quite happy about.

HE CHUCKLES

Sean does not like sitting in the house on his own.

-So I'm going to work at two o'clock, aren't I, love?

-Yeah.

Where do you go? Don't do man jobs, we talk about man jobs, in here,

that's all we ever do, talk about them.

You don't do your man jobs, do you, love?

-I get someone in.

-Cos he goes to the boathouse.

But, to be honest,

you can get husbands that'll get ready and go to the pub, won't they?

He's never been one like that, so you've got to be thankful,

you can't have it all ways.

But...

I'm very proud of him, I always have been...

..really, but I don't tell him that often,

because he's proud of himself.

Shall we ask if we can go up the club later?

No.

THEY CHUCKLE

BLEEPING At 3pm, the pagers go off.

What is it?

What?

..male, under North Pier.

A member of the public has reported seeing a man falling off North Pier.

Within five minutes of the alarm being raised,

Sean and two other volunteers are ready to launch.

The tide is flooded. The first thing I'm thinking is

where's he going to end up? Where's he going to be?

I need to locate him.

I need to get to him.

Seconds count. The quicker we are,

the more chance we've got of saving someone.

We'd rather save someone than go and pick a body up.

Unable to hold on, the casualty is swept by the tide.

He resurfaces unconscious,

200 metres from where he first fell in.

Ready! One, two, three, up!

Doing a CPR on a boat is hard work.

Carry on! Carry on!

In a confined space, the boat's rocking and rolling,

some occasions the waves are washing over the top of the boat.

It is very demanding.

Carry on, carry on.

-Keep going, Johnno.

-I'm going, I'm going.

And again, Johnno.

Run it home.

Stretcher.

Right, everyone, two three, up!

Keep going.

I need to be saving this person's life,

that's why we're there, that's why we're all doing it.

That's why we ALL do it.

If we've done our best,

if I know I've done 100% of my best to try and save them...

..and I've used every tool I have...

..in my armoury, so to speak, and..

..do right what I'm supposed to be doing...

Unfortunately, we can't save everyone.

Despite ten minutes of continuous CPR,

the casualty shows no sign of life.

-Are you all right?

-Nah, man, I'm tired.

I've probably lost count of how many casualties

we've brought in that are dead.

It took a while before I could look at their faces.

Though they sign up to save lives,

every RNLI volunteer will eventually end up encountering death.

People with white faces and white hands, really sad.

Someone's time's gone, their life's over, it's not good.

It's difficult for everyone involved.

It's something I think everybody just deals with, their own way.

But no crew member will ever forget their first experience of death.

19th of April.

I remember the date, 19th of April.

And it was a chap that...

decided to...

go into the sea.

And we had to carry him out the boat.

And it took about eight of us to carry him out.

I'm thinking, why's it taking eight people to carry him out?

Because I didn't know that, you know...

The word "dead weight", you know?

It was heavy. And that was the first body I'd seen.

I don't think about death.

It's going to come to us all, eventually.

If there is a God, I'm hoping he's looking out for me when I go out on

that boat. I'm not one for saying a prayer, or anything like that,

I just like to think he's watching over us,

and we're doing a good job, so he might look out for us.

ALARM BLEEPING It's 5pm.

A young woman's been cut off by the rising tide.

Trapped on a rapidly disappearing sandbank,

she's called the coastguard for help from her mobile.

Accidents like this can happen at any time.

Have we got a helmsman?

But the risk is especially high twice a month

during the spring tides.

Spring tide doesn't refer to the season of spring,

it refers to the fact that the tides springs back and forward

very quickly.

The tide will come in faster than people can imagine.

It's moving as fast as a river.

It rushes all around you,

and people can soon be out of their depth.

Last year, more than 600 people had to be rescued in the UK and Ireland

after becoming cut off by the rising tide.

The crew have just minutes to reach the young woman.

It's not as easy to spot someone as you would think.

It would only be a head sticking out of the water.

We couldn't see her.

The ripples on the water, they create shadows,

it can look like heads or other objects.

She's in the dark sea.

We then spotted her, from a distance.

We could see her going under and back up,

and under and back up, and we're racing towards, just thinking,

just get to her.

She's seconds from drowning.

When we get to her, we need to grab her,

and we can't afford to miss her and have to turn round

and do a second pass. She was just in her last moments.

Are you all right?

Are you OK?

We pulled her out of the water so hard she flew in the air!

We couldn't have pulled her out of the water any harder.

What a feeling to grab her and think, you know, she's alive.

SHE SCREAMS AND CRIES

I was like...

am I REALLY alive?

I was waiting for death,

but a guardian angel came.

Have you got an ambulance?

Here?

SHE GROANS

SHE RETCHES AND CRIES

Hold it here, mate.

To save someone's life...

It's a very...

primal, raw emotion.

It's a privilege.

There's something very instinctive about it.

You know you're doing the right thing when you're saving

someone's life. It's...

-HE SIGHS

-It's hard to explain.

You feel like you're doing the most important thing on earth.

When I was walking,

I was just walking on sand,

I was not near water at all.

I was talking to my sister on my phone

and then I realised in front of me there is water.

You know, I just blinked my eyes and water is everywhere.

Then water was coming up and up and up.

I said, I don't want to die like this.

I never thought that I'm going to die like this, no.

If they had been late, I think, for two seconds...

I wouldn't be here.

Just for two seconds.

Usma had to go to A&E to be checked over,

but was ultimately given the all clear.

Today, she's come back to Blackpool,

to see her saviours.

-Do you remember Alan?

-Oh, yes.

Hello, are you OK?

Nice to see you again. These are my two daughters here.

-This is Freya, that's Niamh.

-Oh! Where've your teeth gone?

The tooth fairy came and got it.

I've lost four.

We saw you just after the rescue, didn't we?

But everything was still, you know...

Yes, it was still shock at the time.

My mum was crying, my dad was crying,

everybody was.

Considering I heard you couldn't swim, is that right?

-No.

-It happens all the time.

We've got sandbanks here and it soon becomes an island,

cos it fills in round it.

It just flowed in like a river.

I can't swim but I tried everything.

What I know, what I saw in movies, I just tried everything in water.

I'm happy you are here.

Yes, I'm happy I'm alive.

It's actually, you know, changed my life a lot.

All this life, what we do, just running after money,

and that's what all people are doing.

I don't want all that now.

We got to you fast as we could,

and it was literally, like, we had one pass to grab hold of you.

Shot out of the water like a flying fish, but...

THEY LAUGH

..the main thing is we got you.

Like pointless, your life is looking like...

..a big question mark for me.

What I did with my life?

28 years... Nothing?

'I don't know how long I'm going to live

'or what's going to happen or what's not going to happen,'

I just want to be happy and make everybody happy.

That's the second life.

And all thanks to you guys.

There's not many people who get a second chance.

It's lovely...

for it to work out that way.

If you need my help any time for anything,

I know you said you have to mop the floor or anything,

I would come at any time.

Lovely for you to say that, that's lovely.

That's fantastic.

Whatever I will do, it'll be nothing

compared to what you did for me.

I'm standing here just because of you guys. So...

-Life-savers.

-Life-savers, that's the aim of the game, Freya,

that's what we're here for.

Since the rescue, Usma's not the only one who's been rethinking

what she's doing with her life.

Alan's handed in his notice at the funeral parlour,

and is hoping to join the Ambulance Service.

What made me want to do it is basically starting on the lifeboat

and dealing with casualties.

It gives you an interest in wanting to help people.

In a few days' time,

he will sit his first exams in 20 years.

Hopefully I won't be going to the job centre with my P45 in my hand.

It won't come to that.

I don't know. Hopefully Friday, next week, it'll all be good news.

Before Alan bids goodbye to the world of funerals for good...

..he has a last duty to perform.

We will go out with the crew,

we will have the big boat and a small boat

and they'll both launch.

Sean Lynch, a former RNLI volunteer,

asked his wife Jean to arrange for his ashes to be scattered at sea.

What we'll do is we will get on the radio

so you're stood with someone at the radio

and we can let them know when we are about to commence

scattering the ashes.

It really is his wish come true.

He loved coming and walking down here.

He'd come down here every morning,

brought a paper and would sit there,

have a cup of tea up the north pier

and look out at the Irish Sea, he loved it.

People quite often request their ashes are scattered.

I personally think it's lovely.

I guess it's a return to nature, something like that.

We're all part of a big family in the lifeboat institution.

We look after each other.

But it is a constant reminder,

and makes you realise that...

That...

..what's the most important things in life.

Blackpool boat house, Blackpool boat house, this is Blackpool lifeboat.

Blackpool lifeboat, this is Blackpool boat house, go ahead.

Yes...

we are about to commence a prayer...

before we scatter Mr Sean Lynch's ashes into the sea.

Alan is about to say the prayer now.

Thank you. Go ahead.

Eternal God, you have shared with us the life of Sean.

As now we offer Sean back into your arms,

comfort us in our loneliness.

Strengthen us in our weakness and give us courage

to face the future unafraid.

For all those of us who remain in this life closer to one another,

make us faithful,

to serve one another,

and give us to know that peace and joy

which is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

May he rest in peace.

Blackpool's had a lifeboat station for 150 years.

That's a good bit of heritage there.

You know, if you think over that 150 years how many things have changed,

you know, people have gone from going about on horse and cart

to landing on the moon.

All the guys that have gone before us,

we're all definitely well aware that you're treading in their footsteps.

They didn't have the kit that we do,

they're in corked life jackets and sou'westers,

and they're rowing out to save people.

All of their efforts, those that have survived,

those that have laid down their lives,

everything that they have done...

pays to make you as a lifeboat crew safer.

You know, those guys were like real heroes.

The world has changed so much but...

..in a weird way, the lifeboat institution's stayed the same,

Or the fundamental values of the lifeboat institution

have stayed the same.

CHATTERING

It's changed me from a boy to a man, to use a cliche.

I really wouldn't ever want it to end,

it's the best thing that I've ever done with my life.

Rookie volunteer Shawna has now taken part in seven shouts...

..helping to rescue eight people.

She's hoping to become Newquay's first helmswoman.

The Saint Apollo,

the fishing vessel that sank in a storm off the Scottish coast,

has been recovered by a salvage company.

Captain McIlwraith and his crew are eager to get back to sea.

I am looking to get another vessel.

This is what we do, we're fishermen,

so that's what we're going to carry on doing.

The draw of the sea as they call it.

Are you all right?

Usma has been taking swimming lessons.

Life is really precious.

You shouldn't take it that easy.

Just a few minutes,

and you are just there and gone,

from this world to that world.

Alan passed his exams,

and is now working as an emergency medical technician.

Absolutely loving the new career.

On a scale of one to ten,

one being no pain at all,

say ten is being eaten alive by a shark,

right, how do you feel right now?

I'd give it past ten, I tell you.

Going from one extreme to another,

from the deceased to the living, yeah,

and the aim is to obviously keep them living, yeah!

HE CHUCKLES