History of Her Majesty's Coastguard UK 1809
History of Her Majesty's Coastguard UK 1809
As an Island the United Kingdom depends on the safe passage of her trading ships to and from around the world. To help in their safety Her Majesty's coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air sea rescue. In 1809 the Preventive Water Guard was established and can be regarded as the immediate ancestor of HM Coastguard. Its primary objective was to prevent smuggling, but it was also responsible for giving assistance to shipwrecks.
Each Water Guard station was issued with Manby's Mortar which was invented by Captain George William Manby. The mortar fired a shot with a line attached from the shore to the wrecked ship and was used for many years.
In 1821 a committee of enquiry recommended that responsibility for the Preventative Water Guard be transferred to the Board of Customs. The Treasury agreed and in a Minute dated 15 January 1822, directed that the preventative services, which consisted of the Preventive Water Guard, cruisers and Riding Officers should be placed under the authority of the Board of Customs and in future should be named the Coast Guard.
In 1829 the first Coast Guard instructions were published and dealt with discipline and directions for carrying out preventative duties. They also stipulated that when a wreck took place, the Coast Guard was responsible for taking all possible action to save lives, to take charge of the vessel and to protect property.
Efficiency drives in the 1990s made Her Majesty's Coastguard a government executive agency and in 1998 the Marine Safety Agency and the Coastguard Agency were joined to become the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
The Coastguard has a museum at Sewerby Hall near Bridlington to commemorate the 200 year history of the agency. HRH The Prince of Wales is an honorary Commodore of HM Coastguard.
HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) within the UK Maritime Search and Rescue Region. This includes the mobilisation, organisation and tasking of adequate resources to respond to persons either in distress at sea, or to persons at risk of injury or death on the cliffs or shoreline of the United Kingdom. The chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is Sir Alan Massey Operational and the control of the service is the responsibility of the Chief of the Coastguard.
Typical emergencies to which the Coastguard is summoned include:
Sail boarders too exhausted to reach the shore;
Walkers and animals who slip from cliff paths;
Boats losing rudder control;
Crew stranded aboard a container ship battered by freak waves;
Medical emergencies;
Incidents involving oil rigs (such as fire);
Suicide victims that have jumped from cliffs or bridges;
Missing adults and children around the cliffs or beach area;
Broken Down Merchant Vessels in English waters;
Evacuating injured persons at sea;
Locating missing persons and vessels at sea;
Fires on Board Merchant vessels;
Groundings;
Collisions at sea;
Depending on the circumstances of each incident, the Coastguard may also arrange for other emergency services to be deployed to the incident or to meet other units returning from the incident, for example in the case of a medical emergency. A full list of 'Declared Assets' is below:
HM Coastguard's own CRO (Coastguard Rescue Officers) Initial Response and Coastguard Rescue Teams;
Inshore lifeboats, all-weather lifeboats and inshore rescue hovercraft operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Other nominated inshore rescue services
Search and Rescue helicopters under contract to the MCA
Ministry of Defence SAR helicopters and fixed wing aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy (RN)
Emergency Towing Vessels (ETV) - powerful tugs contracted to the MCA
Nominated Fire Service teams for cliff and mud rescue as well as fire fighting and chemical incident response for vessels at sea
Nominated beach lifeguard units.
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