While it is quite true that HM Coastguard still coordinates all maritime search and rescue operations around the coasts from its ‘hi-tech’ Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres, they no longer maintain an inshore visual watch from the once numerous lookout stations that used to be seen dotted along the UK coastline. In 1994, the Government withdrew a large proportion of their funding which caused the closure of all of these local lookout facilities and, as a result of these cutbacks, the Coastguard are no longer able to fulfil this traditional and vital role. It is sadly ironic that within just a week of one of these lookout stations being abandoned on the Cornish coast that year, two fishermen drowned within sight of it because there was nobody there to see their plight or hear their cries for help.
This incident prompted a group of local volunteers to get together in an attempt to reopen the station and fill the void that had been created. The National Coastwatch Institution, as this enterprise became known, has since developed into a well established charity organisation, manned entirely by volunteers, that has effectively taken over the responsibility for the daytime visual surveillance of much of the UK Coastline, all without government funding.
These watchkeepers are constantly looking out for the safety and welfare of everyone using coastal paths and inshore waters and are ready to respond immediately, with direct links to the appropriate rescue services. They are also frequently involved in the actual response itself by directing the search and rescue teams or monitoring the situation and relaying real time visual information about the progress of the incident back to the Coastguard MRCC.
Since its inception in 1994, National Coastwatch has grown in size from just a handful of isolated locations into a truly national operation stretching all the way round the coasts of the southern UK, with more than 1700 watchkeepers manning over 40 operational stations. However, there are still gaps, and more watch stations are needed, especially on the UK’s more northerly reaches.
National Coastwatch provide an essential safety margin for professional seafarers, leisure boat owners and those who venture out on to the water without modern electronic navigation aids or VHF radio, although the watchkeepers do monitor the normal pre-determined marine VHF channels for the area and duty watchkeepers can also provide current local weather observation information at the station by telephone upon request.
However, keeping the ‘Eyes Along The Coast’ open relies on volunteers and donations and the organisation would welcome the support of commercial sponsorship, which could even take the shape of supply or funding for suitable marine safety and communications equipment such as radar or radio direction finding and signalling devices.
For further information visit www.nci.org.uk.
