Coastguards

Heroes of the Shore – The role of the H M Coastguard service at Fleetwood

Coastguards were at the birth of Fleetwood’s RNLI story and there has always been a link between the two services.

In modern times his Majesty’s Coastguard had full-time officers stationed in Fleetwood. They kept watch on the maritime scene from an observation tower on the shore near Rossall Point and were backed up by a team of volunteer Auxilliary Coastguards.

When lifeboats were at sea in the eastern Irish Sea they had radio communication with the Coastguard who co-ordinated search and rescue operations that could also involve other ships, aircraft and shore-based emergency services.

It is still the same today but there have been some major changes. The full time presence at Fleetwood is long gone but a team of volunteer Coastguards based in the port reacts to emergency calls for help.

A full-time 24/7 Coastguard base at Holyhead co-ordinates maritime rescue in the north west.

A modern lookout tower of futuristic design has replaced the old one at Rossall Point. Facilities there give the public information about the natural history of Morecambe Bay.

And it is home to volunteers of the National Coastwatch Institution which continues the tradition of literally keeping an eye on life in the bay in order to alert rescue services if they are needed.

In 2024 Princess Anne visited the tower to present long service awards to Coastwatch volunteers.

One local man with a unique experience of the maritime rescue world is 78-year-old John Bradbury.

He recalls; “ There have been massive changes in the maritime world in and around Fleetwood since I first got interested in the sea and ships many years ago

Growing up in Preesall across the Wyre from Fleetwood John took leisure time trips to sea in local inshore fishing boats and trawlers before training as a teacher and beginning a long career at Fleetwood High School.

Alongside that began an equally long link with nautical education as a part-time lecturer in what is now the Fleetwood nautical campus of Blackpool and the Fylde College.

John has run courses for trainee commercial fishermen and leisure sailors and is still involved at the college teaching traditional skills like ropework alongside modern sea-safety techniques to Merchant Navy men and women of the future.

More than 50 years ago he became a Coastguard volunteer. He helped to set up a base at Knott End and has seen service all around Morecambe Bay and further afield in the north west.

He was awarded an MBE for his efforts

“ When I started we had trawlers, fishing boats, angling boats, cargo ships, passenger ships – all sorts of craft sailing these local waters. Most of them have gone now which is sad. Sea safety – like wearing a life jacket – was poor in the leisure sailing scene. Coastguards have helped to improve that and communications have improved vastly with the use of modern electronics.”

John’s vast experience ranges from locating people lost on fog shrouded beaches and threatened by the incoming tide to scaling the heights of Lancaster railway bridge high above the river Lune to talk down a man threatening to jump.

Sadly, potential suicide cases on the beaches of the Fylde coast play a big part in today’s Coastguard work.

John has known tragedies like the loss of the Chinese cocklers drowned at Morecambe. He spent the night helping to recover their bodies then went to his teaching job at school.

“ Of course incidents like that are testing but it’s a wonderful feeling when you’re involved in a successful job. It really hypes you up.”

Retired now from the Coastguard service, John is yet another example of the way men and women are prepared to give up their time –and sometimes risk their lives – to help those who become victims of the waves.

So much has changed on the maritime scene in Morecambe Bay but the willingness of volunteers remains unchanged – and so does the potential danger of the sea.

By David Pearce