Jonathan's Mayday Mile

Day 6 Fact of the day

Valiant volunteers

Only 1 in 10 RNLI lifeboat crew volunteers has a professional maritime occupation.

97% of the RNLI’s frontline lifesavers are volunteers – they have all kinds of backgrounds and jobs. They carry pagers which alert them when they are needed to respond to an emergency at sea. As only 10% of lifeboat crew volunteers have a professional maritime occupation, training is essential. The RNLI College in Poole, Dorset, was opened in 2004 and is the home of RNLI training, where crews learn skills including boathandling, navigation, first aid and sea survival. 

Day 5 Fact of the day

Curious RNLI finds

Gold teeth and two vintage Ferraris are among the unusual gifts left to the RNLI in Wills.

6 in 10 lifeboat launches are made possible thanks to supporters leaving a gift to the RNLI in their Will. In 2022, 64% of the charity’s income was from legacies. While the gifts are often monetary, some of the more unusual items which have been gifted to the charity include some gold teeth, a pig farm, a 100-year-old bottle of Cognac and two vintage Ferraris. 

Day 4 Fact of the day

Day 3 Fact of the day

The Suevic rescue

The Suevic rescue in 1907 holds the record for the largest number of people saved in a single operation in RNLI history.

The Suevic left Australia on 2 February 1907, bound for Liverpool. She carried over 400 passengers and crew, as well as 12,000 tons of cargo. On 17 March, the ship approached Cornwall’s hazardous Lizard coastline in a violent gale with rough seas and a dense fog and ran aground against a reef. 

Sixty volunteer crew members from Cadgwith, Coverack, The Lizard and Porthleven rowed back and forth for 16 hours to rescue those aboard.

Their courage saved 456 lives, including 70 babies, and not a single life was lost. Six of the rescuers, including two Suevic crew members, were awarded Silver Medals by the RNLI.

Fact of the Day (2nd May)

Sir William Hillary’s vision for a a service dedicated to saving lives at sea became a reality in Bishopsgate’s City of London Tavern on 4 March 1824.

Living on the Isle of Man, Hillary witnessed dozens of shipwrecks and helped save many lives. At that time, there was an average of 1,800 shipwrecks a year around our coasts. Rescue services existed in some places, but the danger of shipwreck was an accepted way of life at sea. Hillary wanted to take action.

In February 1823, he appealed for the formation of a National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. He contacted the Navy, ministers and prominent citizens but did not have the desired result. He then approached philanthropic members of society – and this time, with success. Over 30 gentlemen put their names to the fledgling charity at the inaugural public meeting in the City of London Tavern on 4 March 1824. 

These resolutions passed at that meeting still stand as part of the RNLI’s charter almost 200 years later

Day 1