A shoutout to the RNLI
In the UK we have a fire, health, and police service that has billions poured into it every year, but protecting the lives of people around the coast is a desperately underfunded and mostly volunteer-run organization called the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). If you are ever around the coast and find yourself in an emergency, calling 999 and asking for the coast guard would cause a team of people to rush into their boat and scramble towards your position to save your life, and all without being paid. For a better explanation of just how truly amazing this organization is, here are a few things to remember the next time you see one of their stations.
More than 600 RNLI volunteers have died during service
Since the founding of the RNLI in 1824, over 600 people, the vast majority of which were working for free, have lost their lives in an attempt to save others. Most of these deaths happened during the kind of weather that sinks ships, but this is exactly the kind of weather they know they’ll have to brave to save others.
The RNLI has saved close to 150,000 lives
There have been around 150,000 lives saved by the RNLI since 1824, which range from rescuing people from Dunkirk during the war to holidaymakers stuck in quicksand.
The RNLI during the world wars
With submarines and warships firing on anything that belonged to an enemy nation, it’s no wonder that rescues went up dramatically during these periods. The RNLI would deploy their rescue boats over 1,800 times in the First World War, leading to over 5,000 lives being saved. The Second World War saw over 6,000 people rescued, many of which were civilians and crews of merchant ships.
How big is the RNLI?
The headquarters of the organization is located in Poole, Dorset in southern England. From there it operates 238 lifeboat stations with only around 450 boats. Each station normally has only one boat, with a few stations in the more popular tourist spots having several.
How many people does the RNLI save each day?
Incidents vary, but in 2015 the organization saved an average of 22 people per day. This number goes up and down considerably as factors like tourist season play into the figures. There are an average of between 15 and 50 calls per day, but again this goes up greatly at various times and many of these incidents are not life-threatening. The busiest station is located on the lifeboat pier on the River Thames in London, this station receives more calls each year than the 50 quietest stations combined.
How much do people in the RNLI get paid?
Even though some positions offer a salary that can sometimes be quite high, the vast majority of the people who work in the organization do so voluntarily or are paid an “upkeep” wage per hour. The hourly rate at the stations that pay it, is normally around £10 an hour, which may not seem too bad, but considering they are literally risking their lives to do this job and are also giving up the time to work on anything else, that £10 an hour is a tiny amount.
Most of the smaller stations have entire staff who don’t get paid anything at all and apart from the lack of wages, are also expected to attend hours of training and promotional events.
How you can help
The running of the stations, lifeboats, and training takes a huge amount of organization and money. The RNLI sometimes receives government subsidies but runs mostly on donations and volunteers. Without this organization, many people finding themselves in trouble around British waters would often be left to save themselves, something that’s not so easy when in the middle of the sea or stuck in quicksand with the tides coming in.
To help keep the stations active and the lifeboats floating, please consider donating anything you can to help the heroes of the RNLI keep saving lives.
