21st Century Search & Rescue

Efficiency drives in the 1990s made Her Majesty's Coastguard a government executive agency, then in 1998 the Marine Safety Agency and the Coastguard Agency were joined to become the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

The MCA exists to promote high standards of safety at sea, to minimise loss of life amongst seafarers and coastal users, to protect the environment by minimising pollution from ships and to respond to maritime emergencies 24 hours a day. This means the MCA must maintain an adequate civil maritime search and rescue co-ordination service through HM Coastguard. This clear definition of the role of HM Coastguard within the MCA has enabled the MCA to focus on introducing the best available technology, which means that the UK Coastguard is a world model for search and rescue co-ordination.

Whether you are a sailboarder too exhausted to reach the shore or a walker that slips from the scenic cliff path, cruising on a luxury superliner that looses rudder control or crew aboard a container ship battered by freak waves, fallen sick on a racing yacht or trapped on a burning oil rig, HM Coastguard can ensure that the most able rescuers are sent to your aid. Computerised data gives them access to all the resources and by touching a visual display screen they can summon lifeboats, helicopters, towing vessels or cliff rescuers. It is no matter that you are a hundred miles along the coast from their watchroom or far over the horizon. Satellite communications enable Coastguards to hear the distress calls of seafarers and coastal users who less than a hundred years ago would have hoped in vain that their feeble flares or cries might be seen or heard. Rescue was not quick; if a Coastguard spotted a vessel ashore he often had to send messengers on foot to alert the lifeboat or LSA crew.

It is no surprise that HM Coastguard is leading initiatives for a National Search and Rescue Framework. For the first time this will cover incidents arising at sea, on land or in the air, by promoting partnership between all forms of emergency service through the most advanced communications.

HM Coastguard no longer thinks only of rescue. Despite handling thousands of incidents every year, improved efficiency has freed officers to take part in safety campaigns. Each year these target the most common causes of accidents at sea, and their message is carried to recreational clubs and into schools.

You can learn more about the work of the modern HM Coastguard by calling the MCA or by arranging to visit a local Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre.