During 1991 the lifeboats of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution were called out nearly 5000 times and saved more than 1300 lives. The author of this book visited over 130 lifeboat stations during his research for this book, logging the details of hundreds of missions, from the earliest days of the RNLI to the present time. Some of the stories are tragic, others amusing, with many tales of sheer courage earning the lifeboat crews awards for heroism.