We should turn away from those who have failed us,' says Neil Oliver

Last week saw the anniversary of the loss of the Penlee lifeboat, with all hands. She was the Solomon Browne, a 47-foot Watson class vessel paid for, like all RNLI lifeboats, by donations from the public. On the evening of the 19th of December 1981, The Union Star, a brand new 1,400-ton coaster on her maiden voyage and making for Arklow, in Ireland, was in trouble around 8 miles off the Wolf’s Rock lighthouse, in SW Cornwall. Her engine had failed and could not be restarted. Aboard were her skipper Henry Morton, his wife, two teenage daughters and a crew of four – eight people in all.-- More...