Salcombe Lifeboat took part in a Service of Praise and Blessing of the lifeboat fleet which took place in Brixham to mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

The South Hams crew was joined by lifeboats with crews from Teignmouth, Exmouth, Torbay, and the Dart to gather offshore at Berry Head before arriving in convoy along Brixham Breakwater.

Helen Lovell-Smith, the Fisherman’s Mission Area Officer for Devon, conducted the special service in front of a crowd of RNLI volunteers, their friends and family members as well as many other supporters.

The flotilla of lifeboats was described as "a fantastic spectacle", and Teignmouth's RNLI volunteers said it was "an honour" to be part of the special day.

On the day the charity turned 200, the RNLI revealed its volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards across the south west have saved 16,028 lives during its two centuries of lifesaving.  

Since the charity was founded in 1824, its volunteer crews in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, West Dorset and the Channel Islands have launched the lifeboats 55,912 times, saving 14,967 lives.

Meanwhile RNLI lifeguards across the region – who became part of the charity’s lifesaving service in 2001 – have responded to 176,585 incidents, saving 1,061 lives. 

In total, across the UK and Ireland, 146,452 lives have been saved by the RNLI – this equates to an average of two lives saved every day for 200 years.