Martin Woodward on Saving Lives at Sea

You’ve got to remember that in those days, weather forecasting was not good. People didn’t have the electronic aids that they’ve got nowadays and people often got caught out by weather because the forecasts were not very accurate, so if they were going across Channel to say Cherbourg or something for the weekend, and they had to be back for the office on Monday, if the weather blew up on Sunday they’d think, oh, you know, I’ve got to be back for the office, we’ll take a chance and we’ll go, and that’s just one example.

People just got caught out, a lot of the time they didn’t know where they were because yachts inevitably with Bembridge Ledge extending so far out, loads and loads of boats got on the Ledge and got into trouble, but of course now they’ve got their navigation on their smart phones, it just doesn’t happen any more.