THEY have saved countless lives since they started patrolling one of Britain's busiest waterways half a century ago.
Calshot RNLI is celebrating its 50th anniversary after answering thousands of call-outs since the lifeboat station was opened at the start of the 1970s.
The service had been operational for only three weeks when the volunteers received their first "shout".
The SS Oriana was on her way to Australia and New Zealand when she suffered a fire in her boiler room. She was able to return to Southampton with Calshot lifeboat standing by alongside, but the damage caused by the blaze took two weeks to repair.
A much more serious incident took place two months later when the Pacific Glory collided with another tanker off the Isle of Wight, causing a huge fire.
Calshot lifeboat saved 11 people but 13 others lost their lives.
On July 27 1998, a Catalina flying boat was attempting to land on water when one of its floats exploded, which resulted in the aircraft sinking. Two people were killed, including the mayor of Southampton, Cllr Mike Andrews.
Despite being a non-swimmer Cllr Andrews, 51, helped save the lives of fellow passengers but was unable to escape himself.
One of the more recent incidents involved the car carrier Hoegh Osaka, which developed a severe list after after leaving Southampton on January 3 2015.
Both Calshot crews were sent to the scene, along with lifeboats from Yarmouth and Cowes and a coastguard helicopter. During a complex operation everyone aboard the Hoegh Osaka was successfully evacuated.
In May this year the lifeboat station was alerted after a light aircraft ditched in the sea near Calshot Spit.
The pilot had managed to deploy its emergency parachute and the two people on board were unharmed. The plane was towed ashore, where it was made safe by Calshot crew member Tony Carrier, who is also an airline pilot.
Calshot lifeboat patrols one of the busiest maritime areas in the UK.
A spokesperson said: "We see over 70,000 commercial vessel movements a year. We also have a wide range of pleasure craft, water sports enthusiasts and holidaymakers that use the water on our patch, not to mention being on the flightpath for Heathrow Airport.
"The sheer scale of the number of people that are on or above the water we cover is simply mind-boggling."
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