A love of the sea spans generations

Sep 21 2007 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

In the week Hoylake Lifeboat launched a £2m campaign for a new station and vessel, Liam Murphy meets a family with an illustrious history of service

THE name Dodd has a long and illustrious connection with Hoylake Lifeboat, and although the former coxswain David Dodd is justly proud of his family connection, he remains modest about his own part in the station’s history.

His grandfather Thomas Dodd and his crew were awarded the First Class Certificate of Merit by the Imperial Russian Association for Life-Saving on Waters after he led the rescue of the Matador of Riga during a severe gale in 1902, and Thomas Dodd himself was given a silver medal by the RNLI.

David Dodd’s uncle, Arthur Dodd, was another member of the family who held the position of Coxswain of Hoylake Lifeboat for three years, although he had retired by the time the young David Dodd was already preparing to volunteer for the Lifeboat.

But, most of all, David Dodd is particularly proud of his son Andrew, 28, who as well as being the youngest-ever pilot launch coxswain on the Mersey is also second coxswain at Hoylake Lifeboat.

David Dodd, 64, who himself has a lifelong love of the sea, said: “He is a lucky lad – being paid for playing on boats all day. What a dream.”

But the former Coxswain who joined the Hoylake Lifeboat in 1959 and was awarded the MBE for services to the RNLI is also keen that the role of all the volunteers at Hoylake are recognised for the crucial roles they play.

He said: “Someone once asked me what makes a good coxswain and I answered an even better crew.

“It’s they who give up their time and jobs – many are self-employed so when they answer a call they stop earning, or have to rely on understanding employers.”

David Dodd himself has twice been involved in what the RNLI describes as Bronze Medal rescues, and can rattle off many stories about the station’s history, from the bizarre incident when the crew were pulling the boat out across the beach for a night exercise only to find a naked man appear in the tractor’s headlights – he had lost his clothes while out for a swim – to rescuing a pilot off West Hoyle Bank after an emergency landing.

But the roughest seas he ever experienced in Liverpool Bay were during a daring rescue led by then coxswain, John McDermott in 1992, during the Tall Ships Race when the Lady of Hilbre was launched from Hoylake to help the Polish yacht Warszawska Nike.

Full of praise for the skills of Coxswain McDermott, David Dodd said: “It was a very dirty day and night that. We launched and went out in winds in excess of 75 knots.

“But the Lady of Hilbre has been a remarkable boat, and gave us all peace of mind, having sailed out in those conditions and brought us back.

“When people ask what is the most dramatic and severe weather you have been out in, that was it, and the cox was fantastic.”

2005 saw the Hoylake Lifeboat station launch the most times ever during a year with 25 call-outs.

Lifeboat operations manager John Curry said the increasing importance of Liverpool ports, John Lennon Airport and the role of the Rock Lighthouse in Wallasey as a beacon for transatlantic flights have made more people aware of the significance of the station.

However, because maroons are no longer fired as part of the call to launch the lifeboat – volunteers are paged by bleepers – people think they launch less than they used to.

He said: “There are a lot of pleasure craft these days, which account for many call-outs, and 2005 was the busiest in our station’s history.”

So far during 2007, they have been called out 19 times, most recently last weekend, when Hoylake Lifeboat was requested to help New Brighton Lifeboat to tow a dismasted vessel.

liammurphy