Busy lifeline for all who go down to the sea

On a savage stormy night some weeks ago, Galway Bay inshore lifeboat took to the water in response to an emergency call. A three-year old child had reportedly been swept off a yacht by a freak wave.

Anybody looking at the conditions prevailing over the preceding days would have known that no skipper worth his or her salt would have been out in such weather. The alert came shortly before 9 p.m. Yet the caller, from a mobile phone, was very precise with the information: the vessel was named and described as 42 feet long, and the child was wearing a lifejacket - so might survive if located before hypothermia set in.

As it happened, the Shannon-based Sikorsky medium-range helicopter was in the area, having carried out a medical evacuation from Inis Meain, in the Aran Islands. The helicopter, which is fitted with special infra-red heatseeking equipment, joined in the search. In under an hour, the rescue units were "stood down" by the Irish Marine Emergency Service. It had established the call was a hoax.

For Pat Lavelle, secretary or launching authority at Galway Bay lifeboat, it wasn't just the waste of time and good will of his volunteers. "Had there been a real accident, we could have been in trouble." As it was, the crew took a mighty battering.

"The seas had been running, following gales over several weeks." But then hoax calls are an accepted, if generally unacceptable, part of the commitment involved in a lifeboat panel.

In Galway, the panel serves Dochas, a 24-foot boat, which has made a significant difference to marine safety on the bay. Although the vessel is a rigid inflatable, and is classified as "inshore", it is one of the busiest rescue craft within the Valentia coast radio zone, between Youghal, in Co Cork, and the Aran Islands.

Opened over 2 1/2 years ago in the docks, the station was the result of a campaign dating back to 1990 which sought a dedicated service for the city. By then, the Aran Islands lifeboat had already established its own reputation as the busiest on the coast, largely due to the number of medical ambulance cases on the Aran Islands. Some £150,000 of the total cost of £400,000 was raised locally by a dedicated committee.

The RNLI has expanded considerably on these shores over the past decade, but a strong case must always be made for a new inshore or offshore station. "We knew we needed a boat, but we had to gather incident reports and assess the casualty potential, and this wasn't easy," Mr Lavelle says. "The gardai will hold information for a year only, unless there is a legal case pending. In a small community, incidents would be written down in the station day book, but it is not so simple here."

The committee scoured the records of sailing and angling clubs, and sought the assistance of fishermen and of Valentia coast radio in Co Kerry.

After the grounding of a Russian fish factory ship off Ballyvaughan on the south side of Galway Bay in April 1991 the pressure was increased. A public meeting was organised, to which sailing, swimming, sea angling and diving clubs were invited, and it was estimated there would be 2,000 people on the water in the summer months.

Apart from leisure activities, the constant ferry and fishing vessel traffic and flights from Carnmore Airport in Co Galway proved the need for rescue support.

In April 1994, the RNLI confirmed that an Atlantic 21-foot inshore craft would be placed in Galway on a year's evaluation. Volunteers were sent to the inshore lifeboat centre at Cowes on the Isle of Wight for training. At this stage there was no boathouse, but by February 1996 the station signalled it was there to stay when the foundations for a launching davit were laid on the docks. The davit allows for rapid transfer of the boat to the water, and the crew can be out in just over nine minutes after a "shout".

In 1996, its first full year of operation, Galway station had the third highest number of call-outs. By the following year, it was clear the craft needed to be upgraded.

Some 16 months ago Galway received a dedicated top-of-the range Atlantic 75 rigid inflatable, which is self-righting and capable of 32 knots. It is housed in a permanent boathouse, which includes changing quarters, an office and a meeting room with a view of Galway's new harbour offices. Only seven hours after it arrived, Dochas was out at sea in response to a Mayday call. An angling vessel with 10 people on board had gone aground at Loo Rock, a mile off Ballyvaughan. With considerable skill, the crew rescued the 10 people successfully. It was to be the first of many such trips for Dochas. The station has launched on 79 occasions and has saved 36 lives since March 1996.

Yesterday, it had another "shout" when flares were sighted a mile south of Blackrock, Salthill, and a half-decker with engine trouble was towed back into the docks.

"Even though we are well served with offshore stations - such as the new ones in Achill and Ballyglass, Co Mayo - the demand for inshore craft is definitely there," Paul Carey, the station's press officer, says. A little further up the coast, the RNLI has confirmed that Sligo is to hold on to its new inshore station. Based at Rosses Point, an inshore craft has been on trial since June.

"Sligo Bay is 55 miles east of Ballyglass, 50 miles south of Arranmore, and although only 25 sea miles away it can take up to an hour for the Bundoran lifeboat to reach Sligo Bay," Mr Michael Vlasto, RNLI Chief of Operations, said.

EU funding of £10,000 has been allocated to LOST, the organisation set up to help the families of people who have been drowned at sea. Founded by Mrs Carmel Currid, of Co Wexford, who was widowed when her husband, Timmy, drowned off Howth in 1995, LOST aims to give practical support and will be staffed by volunteers who have had a similar experience.