Cruise ships will have to load and launch a lifeboat once every six months, under new safety rules agreed by the two leading cruise associations.

They put their lives at risk every time they launch a lifeboat to help.

The order was given to launch the lifeboat and abandon the boat.

A passing yachtsman spotted him and alerted coastguards, who launched a lifeboat.

He apparently failed to launch the lifeboats or send a distress signal.

I hope to pull at the mandatory lifeboat drill at 3pm, but to my surprise there are no other solo travellers in sight.

The eccentricity of the passengers - who incidentally are given no lifeboat drill - leave some blithely confident and others distinctly nervous.

Safety equipment was, for the most part, in working order, but lifeboat drills had not been carried out.

Sway on to the end, past the lighthouses, to view the tumbledown remains of the war effort and the still-active lifeboat station.

He was responsible for formulating the strategy for positioning lifeboats round our coast and designating the type of craft most suitable for each lifeboat station.

But the midfield ace has been reliving his own personal rescue act - on a visit to a lifeboat station.

That's probably not true, but size isn't everything: it has a thriving sailing club, three beaches and a lifeboat station that doubles as a striking piece of modern architecture.

The station closed in 1932 but reopened in 1971 as an inshore lifeboat station.