The National Coastwatch Institution is a
voluntary organisation
A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to ac ...
and
registered charity providing a visual watch along the
UK's
coast
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...
s, and is not to be confused with
HM Coastguard
His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the ...
.
History
The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) was founded in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
in 1994 following the deaths of two local fishermen who drowned near a recently closed coastguard station at
Bass Point. Most of HM Coastguard's visual watch stations were closed following a period of rationalisation and modernisation. The institution, registered charity number 1159975, originated from a campaign to re-establish a visual coastal watch in Cornwall. The first NCI Coastwatch station was thus established at Bass Point, on
The Lizard
The Lizard ( kw, An Lysardh) is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; Lizard village, also known as The Lizard, is the most southerl ...
peninsula, Cornwall by November 1994.
Following the successful launch of NCI Bass Point, other stations quickly followed in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
, Cornwall,
East Anglia,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
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, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
,
Sussex,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
,
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
, and
South Wales. As of August 2021, there are 58 NCI stations operational around the coast of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, from
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 census.
Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830s, when the principal lando ...
in the Northwest, through Wales, along the south coast, and up the east coast to Hornsea, East Yorkshire with over 2,600 trained volunteer watchkeepers.
The institution has a joint
memorandum of understanding with the
Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), and more recently
UK Border Force
Border Force (BF) is a law-enforcement command within the Home Office, responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in the United Kingdom. The force was part of the now defunct UK Border Agency from its estab ...
, and these documents are guides to NCI's role and provide the basis for the working relationship the institution enjoys with both these departments. Most NCI stations have acquired, or are working towards acquiring "declared facility status",
giving NCI a very important role to play when needed among the UK's
search and rescue organisations. Many have also achieved the
Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, also known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sect ...
(QAVS).
Work
As of January 2019, the NCI's 2,600-plus uniformed trained volunteer watchkeepers maintain a visual watch along part of the
UK coastline with 54 established NCI watch stations. These stations provide a daily visual watch in all weathers, monitoring marine radio channels, sea conditions and weather, using
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
and providing a listening watch in poor visibility. All emergencies are reported to the appropriate authorities for action, the majority of NCI work being working mainly with HM Coastguard and other statutory authorities. Most NCI stations are manned on a daily basis providing a regular daily watch from 8:00am to dusk. In 2017 a total of 312,350-man-hours watch was performed by NCI watchkeepers, recording over 232,961 commercial, military and leisure vessel movements, and reporting a total of 498 incidents to HM Coastguard, fire, police and ambulance services, of which 41 were NCI-initiated
lifeboat
Lifeboat may refer to:
Rescue vessels
* Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape
* Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues
* Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen
...
rescues. All this work was carried out at no cost to the public purse.
All volunteers are provided with training in visual observation techniques, marine chart-work,
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
mapping, critical reporting, marine radio procedures, and radar, ensuring all volunteers reach the standards expected by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
The NCI works with HM Coastguard, the MCA, the
RNLI and the other emergency services. In 2007, some of the 498 incidents reported by NCI to the MCA ended with the call-out of the RNLI lifeboats,
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
air-sea rescue
Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people ...
,
MoD ordnance units, fire, ambulance and other rescue agencies. These incidents included vessels sinking, vessels on fire, vessels in danger and distress, swimmers,
surf boarders and
kite boarders in difficulties, inflatable toys with children on board being blown out to sea, persons fallen over cliffs, persons washed off jetty, land fires, dangerous munitions washed up, personal injuries, and so on.
In addition, many hundreds of minor incidents were dealt with including informing the coastguard and police of lost, found and missing children, distressed marine wildlife, ordnance on beaches, chemical drums, large carcasses and dangerous debris washed up.
2009 saw the fifteenth anniversary of the foundation of the National Coastwatch Institution. A national office has now been opened in
Exeter.
NCI contributes to SAR by maintaining a visual lookout (‘Spot, Plot, Report and Respond’) around the coastline.
All NCI stations have, or are working towards achieving, Declared Facility Status from the
Maritime & Coastguard Agency
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom that responsible for implementing British and international maritime law and safety policy. It works to prevent the loss of lives at sea and to prevent marine ...
. DFS outlines what
MCA expect from NCI stations, this includes the training and skills watchkeepers are expected to have and what equipment lookouts are expected to have. For watchkeepers this includes but is not limited to, understanding
VHF Mayday,
Pan Pan & Sececurite and the associated procedures, communication protocols for working with
SAR assets, observation techniques, plotting and
chart work, understanding of emergency beacons and operation of
AIS AIS may refer to:
Medicine
* Abbreviated Injury Scale, an anatomical-based coding system to classify and describe the severity of injuries
* Acute ischemic stroke, the thromboembolic type of stroke
* Androgen insensitivity syndrome, an intersex ...
/
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
terminals. For stations this includes but is not limited to high power binoculars, VHF Radios, nautical charts, AIS / radar and usually a weather station and CCTV system.
Once a station has achieved DFS it is listed as an asset within the Search and Rescue community.
Structure and uniform
Coastwatch stations
The National Coastwatch Institution maintains 58 operational Coastwatch stations around the coastline of England and Wales, at the following locations:
England
East coast
*
Caister, Norfolk
*
East Runton, Cromer, Norfolk
*
Felixstowe
Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northea ...
, Suffolk
*
Gorleston, Great Yarmouth
*
Herne Bay, Kent
*
Canvey Island
Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ( ...
, Essex
*
Jaywick
Jaywick is a coastal village in the Tendring district of Essex, England, west of Clacton-on-Sea. It lies on the North Sea coast of England, from London and from Colchester. It was constructed in the 1930s as a holiday resort for Londoners, ...
, Jaywick Sands, Essex
*
Mundesley
Mundesley /ˈmʌndz.li/ is a coastal village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is north-north east of Norwich, south east of Cromer and north east of London. The village lies north-north east of the town of Nort ...
, Norfolk
*
Pakefield
Pakefield is a suburb of the town of Lowestoft in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is located around south of the centre of the town. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1774.
Pakefield has boundaries with Carlton Colville and ...
, Suffolk
*
Southend
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
, Essex
*
Sunderland VLB (affiliate), Tyne & Wear
*
Skegness
Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, ...
, Lincolnshire
*
Wells-next-the-Sea
Wells-next-the-Sea is a port town on the north coast of Norfolk, England.
The civil parish has an area of and in 2001 had a population of 2,451,Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household c ...
, Norfolk
*
Whitstable
Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...
, Kent
South coast
*
Bass Point The Lizard
The Lizard ( kw, An Lysardh) is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; Lizard village, also known as The Lizard, is the most southerl ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
*
Calshot
Calshot is a coastal village in Hampshire, England at the west corner of Southampton Water where it joins the Solent.OS Explorer Map, New Forest, Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013).
History
In 1539, Henry VIII order ...
, Hampshire
*
Charlestown, St Austell, Cornwall
*
Exmouth, Devon
*
Folkestone, Kent
*
Froward Point, Devon
*
Gosport, Hampshire
*
Gwennap Head, St Levan, Cornwall
*
The Needles
The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...
and
Alum Bay,
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
*
Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire
*
Lyme Bay
Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel off the south coast of England. The south western counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay.
The exact definitions of the bay vary. The eastern boundary is usually taken to be Portland Bill on the ...
, Dorset
*
Newhaven, East Sussex
*
Penzance, Cornwall
*
Peveril Point
Peveril Point is a promontory on the east-facing coast of the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England, and is part of the town of Swanage. It forms the southern end of Swanage Bay. It is located at OS Grid Ref: SZ 041 787.
The rocks that make up ...
, Swanage, Dorset
*
Polruan, Cornwall
*
Portland Bill, Dorset
*
Portscatho
Portscatho ( kw, Porthskathow) is a coastal village on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village adjoins Gerrans (the villages have almost merged into one but retain their identities) on the east side of the pen ...
, Pednvadan Point, Cornwall
*
Prawle Point, Kingsbridge, Devon
*
Rame Head
Rame Head or Ram Head ( kw, Penn an Hordh) is a coastal headland, southwest of the village of Rame in southeast Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is part of the larger Rame Peninsula.
History and antiquities
The natural site was used for a pr ...
, Cawsand, Devon
*
Torbay
Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...
, Devon
*
Shoreham, Sussex
*
St Alban's Head, Worth Matravers, Swanage, Dorset
*
Teignmouth
Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at th ...
, Devon
West coast
*
Boscastle
Boscastle ( kw, Kastel Boterel) is a village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster (where the 2011 Census population was included) . It is south of Bude and northeast of Tin ...
, Cornwall
*
Cape Cornwall, St Just, Penzance, Cornwall
*
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 census.
Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830s, when the principal lando ...
-
Rossall Point, Lancashire
*Nare Point,
The Lizard
The Lizard ( kw, An Lysardh) is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; Lizard village, also known as The Lizard, is the most southerl ...
,
Helston
Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map she ...
, Cornwall
*St Agnes Head,
St Agnes, Cornwall
*
St Ives, Cornwall
*
Stepper Point, Padstow, Cornwall
Wales
*
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
*
Great Orme
The Great Orme ( cy, Y Gogarth) is a limestone headland on the north coast of Wales, north-west of the town of Llandudno. Referred to as ''Cyngreawdr Fynydd'' by the 12th-century poet Gwalchmai ap Meilyr, its English name derives from the Old N ...
, North Wales
*Nells Point,
Barry Island
Barry Island ( cy, Ynys y Barri) is a district, peninsula and seaside resort, forming part of the town of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It is named after the 6th century Saint Baruc. Barry's stretch of coast, on the Bristol Chan ...
, South Wales
*
Porthdinllaen
Porthdinllaen (''in English'' sometimes Porth Dinllaen) is a small coastal village on the Llŷn Peninsula in the Dwyfor area of Gwynedd, Wales, built on a small promontory, and historically in Caernarfonshire. It is near the larger village of ...
, North Wales
*
Rhoscolyn, Ynys Mon, Wales
*
Worm's Head
Worm's Head ( cy, Ynys Weryn) is a headland, at Rhossili, part of the City and County of Swansea, Wales. It is the furthest westerly point of the Gower Peninsula. The name Worm's Head is derived from an Old English word 'wyrm' for 'sea serpent ...
, Gower Peninsula, South Wales
*Wooltack Point,
Pembrokeshire
References
External links
National Coastwatch Institution
{{Authority control
Sea rescue organisations of the United Kingdom
1994 establishments in the United Kingdom