How science and technology is vital to search and rescue

“It was madness, utter madness, when you think back to it; but it was the safest thing we had at the time and it saved thousands of lives over the years. I was sad to see it go actually.”

Former coastguard rescue officer Tim Stevens is right of course, by today’s standards the very concept of a Breeches Buoy or use of a white star rocket in search and rescue activities seems ill-advised to say the least. And it is, when you have access to helicopters – but, for most of the years since Her Majesty’s Coastguard formed in 1822, those that have volunteered their time and lives to the safety of others have not had access to such advanced technology.

So this British Science Week – in the year that HM Coastguard celebrates its 200th birthday – it seemed appropriate to look back at the history of the technology the coastguards have had at their disposal, to appreciate the benefits that science has delivered to our search and rescue experts and those they have saved.

Tim Stevens (far left) looks at the camera as his Coastguard Rescue Team train with a Breeches Buoy. Right: The modern version, with a helicopter winchman in action

We did that with the help of Tim, who joined the coastguard in 1978 and spent 42 years in the coastguard ranks, mostly from the Penzance base, before hanging up his lifejacket in 2020. He spent more than four decades in the coastguard, often working alongside the local RNLI lifeboat crews to save countless lives.

The 68-year-old told us of the vast changes he has seen to the way the coastguard operate, as newer and better equipment has become available, and how those improved safety measures have led to fewer lives lost.

Since the coastguard was in its infancy almost two centuries ago, technological advancements include the invention of the telephone, radio – and subsequent creation of the marine VHF Radio – as well as lifeboats as we know them, lifejackets, radar, helicopters, aeroplanes, the list goes on. The world of maritime and the risk to life at sea was almost absolute; if something went wrong, your death certificate was all but signed.

 

Then and now: A Coastguard Rescue Officer (right) reaches for her radio, just one of the ways technology has helped our volunteers in their work

And therein lies the secret to Tim’s fond memories of systems that would never pass the Health & Safety check these days.

The Breeches Buoy was effectively a zip line, created between land and a sinking ship by firing a projectile – filled with gunpowder – from shore on to the deck of a wrecked vessel with a line attached. Once secured, a lifebuoy harness was pulled back and forth across the line, allowing people to be rescued from ships within eyesight of shore.

“Looking back now, with all the equipment we have at our disposal, it seems very unsafe to fire a rocket at a ship,” Tim said. “But at the time you sort of took it for granted and didn’t think about it as dangerous."

 

It is perhaps in the operations room that the advancement in science and technology is most evident, going from paper charts to computer screens

Tim continued: “A lot of the equipment would never get used now. Some of the early pyrotechnics probably weren’t the safest, they could be a little unstable at times but it’s what we had, and it was definitely better than having nothing.

“I remember the last time we used a Breeches Buoy, in 1988, when it was withdrawn from service and we weren’t happy, we were worried about losing our best way of getting people off stricken ships.

“But then we saw what they replaced them with, and we all went very quiet, very quickly. I’m sure that’s been true of coastguards for the entire 200-year history in fact; we start off worried about losing the vital equipment that gives us the ability to save people but end up delighted and excited by what they give us next.

“Helicopters have obviously improved even more since then, but suddenly we were able to rescue people much further out in the water and quicker too. Helicopters are more versatile, the lifeboats just get safer and safer and everyone is just so much better off.”