Saving lives from the waters around the coasts of Britain and all Ireland doesn't get any less hazardous. For more than 175 years rescuing sailors from shipwrecks or holidaymakers from small boats has been in the hands of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which remains a wholly voluntary-funded, non-Government organisation. No matter how sophisticated ships have become storms are as bad as ever and ships, it seems, just as likely to get into difficulties, and the lives of crews are still at risk. Cameron's account puts the story into a political and social perspective, and thrills with the stirring and often poignant narrative of the rescues themselves.