Summoning the Crew
This short video shows Coxswain Dick Wright ‘Kush‘ on the slipway firing the maroons. For many decades the method of summoning the lifeboat crew followed the Royal Navy tradition of using cannons to salute or attract attention. Explosive maroons (fireworks) were set off outside the lifeboat station. These mortars were inserted into a mortar box; a striker was used to ignite a slow burning 10 second fuse that triggered an explosion that sent a ‘gun-cotton’ charge vertically to a height of around 500 feet, where it exploded, creating a loud discharge and dropping two stars groundwards. This loud audible report ‘boom’ could be heard across the town. Two maroons were used to indicate an ‘Immediate Launch’ for the crew to assemble at the lifeboat-house, or one maroon to indicate a ‘Standby’ where the crew assembled awaiting further instructions to launch the lifeboat.
The maroons were replaced by electronic pagers in the 1990’s, Nowadays the lifeboat service has developed a bespoke and sophisticated paging/messaging system RCAMS (RNLI Callout and Messaging System) that is used by all crew to indicate their availability for service and whether they are able to respond in an emergency.
This system is a mobile phone ‘app’ that works on the crew members mobile phone. Various screens enable them to indicate their availability in any week/day/time. In the event of an emergency callout the crew member indicates via their mobile phone if they are responding, enabling the coxswain to know the numbers of crew heading towards the lifeboathouse.
Fleetwood Lifeboats Past 