Saturday (8 May) marked another major step in Sunderland RNLI’s 210-year history with the retirement of Lifeboat Operations Manager Captain Peter Mitchell and Helmsman Martin Andrew. Both are retiring from their existing positions after reaching the charity’s mandatory age of retirement for the two positions.
Captain Peter Mitchell has served the Royal National Lifeboat Institution at Sunderland since 2004 in the role of Lifeboat Operations Manager, which carries many responsibilities including the overall management of the lifeboat station and authorisation of lifeboats to launch on service.
During a formal night of celebration held at the Royal Navy Association Club, Roker, Sunderland, Peter was presented with an RNLI ‘certificate of service’ by Andy Clift, the RNLI’s Divisional Inspector for the North.
Peter’s position will be filled by Martin Andrew who will retire from operational duties as a lifeboat Helmsman after 13 years of service to take up the role as Lifeboat Operations Manager.
During Peter Mitchell’s six year reign as Operations Manager the station’s two lifeboats have launched on 506 occasions, saving nine lives and rescuing 490 people. Peter has also overseen the arrival of two new state of the art inshore lifeboats, the relocation of the lifeboat station into a common base within North Dock Marina, and the introduction of RNLI beach lifeguards onto Sunderland’s beaches.
Captain Peter Mitchell said: ‘My time in position at the lifeboat station has certainly been a period of change. It all started with the Trent class all-weather lifeboat being replaced by the Atlantic 75 within 6 months of my appointment, to the completion of the station relocation two months ago.’
During his reign, Peter has managed the station’s involvement in a number of major search and rescue missions, but the most memorable and by far the largest of them all was in November 2004 when a 36 foot fishing vessel, the Jan Denise, was reported overdue from a day’s fishing from Tynemouth.
Peter recalls: ‘The initial search involved three RNLI lifeboats, an RAF helicopter and Nimrod plane, and about 20 local fishing vessels. The next day this was extended to include 8 RNLI lifeboats and a search area between Tynemouth and Whitby up to 25 miles offshore.'
Martin Andrew, 50, from Fulwell, Sunderland joined the RNLI lifeboat station as a volunteer lifeboat crewman in 1997 before progressing through the ranks to become one of the station’s all-weather lifeboat coxswains in 2004. After the replacement of the Trent class all-weather lifeboat in October 2004 he re-trained to become one of the station’s Atlantic 75/85 inshore lifeboat Helmsman. During his 13 years on station, the city’s lifeboats have responded to 1,020 rescue calls, saving 43 lives and rescuing a further 884 people.
Only four hours before his retirement Martin took command of the station’s relief Atlantic 85 Martin Harvey on a rescue mission in response to a vague distress call that was overheard by coastguards monitoring the maritime distress channel. After a short search of the harbour entrance by the lifeboat crew, they were stood down from the incident.
Martin Andrew, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Sunderland RNLI said: ‘All of the volunteer lifeboat crew are sad to see Peter leave us after six years as Operations Manager, but we are glad that he will remain as a member of the station’s management committee. While it is a sad moment for me to stand down as a sea-going volunteer, I am looking forward to stepping into the role of Lifeboat Operations Manager.’
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