 ABOUT
THE RIVER MERSEY INSHORE RESCUE
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Based on the famous Princes Landing Stage, at the Pier Head, a continuous
24-hour a day, 365 days a year service is maintained, providing a rapid
and effective rescue service for all river users. The River Mersey is
an extremely dangerous river. The Mersey has the third fastest tidal
run in Europe, with the speed of the water reaching 10 knots in places.
 Immersion
in the Mersey, particularly in the cold winter months can result in
rapid death, often within minutes. The Rescue Launch is kept permanently
on the water and is continually manned. This provision combined with
the boat's exceptional capabilities and the crew's advanced medical
skills means that most casualties are recovered from the water within
3 minutes of the Rescue Launch being called out.
It is this rapid and skilled response that invariably makes a life or
death difference. A high specification, 50 knot, twin-engined 7.4m rescue
launch is operated, providing a rapid and effective rescue service for
all river users. Since 1984 the Service has recovered over 300 immersed
casualties and has gone to the assistance of more than 1,800 vessels
found to be in difficulty or distress, often saving many additional
lives.
Many of the crew are in receipt of multiple Resuscitation Awards from
the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society. As part of its commitment
to make the River Mersey a safer place, the Service is at the front
line in terms of developing new rescue techniques and equipment. 
This philosophy has in recent years seen the introduction of equipment
like a 4-man Jet Bike, Rocket Firing Lines, and also a 60 man, tow-able
rescue raft known as the ‘Slide Raft’, the latter of which, when it
was introduced in 1999, meant that the River Mersey Rescue Service became
the first rescue service in the world to use the raft on fast flowing
tidal waters.
A more recent development has seen crew members undertake ‘Swiftwater’
Rescue Training. These courses result in internationally recognised
qualifications and provide crews with specialised techniques to deal
with the dangers of fast flowing waters such as those seen in recent
years in many inland flooding incidents.
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Tell
us your stories of the river
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Spotted
any rare species amongst the waves? Let us know!
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Photographs
or sketches...
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