Lifeboat Fund's lifeboats double their rescue figures in 2012

Lifeboat Fund supporters will be gratified to know how well their charity's lifeboats performed in 2012.

As those figures show, launches increased last year from 215 to 252; 6 lives were saved; and rescues overall rose from 141 to 281.  So, twice as many rescues were carried out by the lifeboats we have purchased for the RNLI in 2012 compared with 2011.  Our busiest lifeboat was Sgt Bob Martin (stationed at Poole), which launched on 79 occasions, saving 113 people – two of whom would not otherwise have survived. 

The RNLI's overall statistics for 2012 are also shared with website readers through this news release.  While we noted that 2011 was the RNLI's second busiest year ever: for lifeboat launches, for the time crews spent at sea, and for lifeguard activity, 2012 was also very challenging.  Lifeboats from the RNLI launched over 8,000 times, in that year of poor weather and heavy rainfall; and they rescued over 7,900 people. The RNLI's Flood Rescue Team had its busiest year on record, deploying no less than 12 times.

Tower lifeboat station on the Thames was the busiest, with 499 launches, while Southend-on-Sea was the busiest coastal lifeboat station with 137 launches.  Tower lifeboat station has had considerable support from The Lifeboat Fund over recent years; and our supporters at Southend-on-Sea in HM Revenue & Customs were amongst our most active fundraisers in 2012.