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The @RNLI is in the news again, for doing what it's been doing for nearly two centuries - saving lives.
Here's a short thread on the founding of the #RNLI, and why it's truly a national treasure worth defending from angry keyboard warriors and callous politicians.
Here's a short thread on the founding of the #RNLI, and why it's truly a national treasure worth defending from angry keyboard warriors and callous politicians.
Sir William Hillary moved to the Isle of Man in 1808. The island is surrounded by treacherous waters, and in his time there Hillary saw many ships run aground on reefs or crash into cliffs, and he did his fair share of rescuing shipwrecked sailors.
There were around 2,000 shipwrecks on British and Irish coasts every year. There were already lifeboats in Britain, but they were usually small operations and they didn't cover everywhere. So in 1823 Hillary published a pamphlet which laid out his plan for a national service.
