Lifeboat skipper to be honoured

Gary Fairbairn said the conditions were the worst he had ever seen

A lifeboat skipper is to be awarded a bravery medal more than 100 years after his great-grandfather received a similar honour.

Coxswain Gary Fairbairn, from Dunbar, East Lothian, is to be presented with the Bronze medal for Gallantry by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

He helped rescue a Swedish husband and wife during storms reaching force nine.

Mr Fairbairn's vessel was damaged as it was twice knocked onto its side as he struggled to maintain control of it.

It took the lifeboat three approaches to reach the couple's yacht, but after the lifeboat was hit by a huge wave the crew managed to pull the pair aboard the rescue craft.

Mr Fairbairn's five-strong crew on the Dunbar RNLI lifeboat are all to be awarded with medal service certificates for their part in the rescue on 15 May.

His's great-grandfather, Walter Fairbairn, was also presented with a Silver bravery medal in 1905 after he helped save the lives of 40 men in a seagoing yacht that had run adrift.

I am really honoured to be awarded the Bronze medal because it's only the sixth medal, and the first in over 30 years, to be awarded to a crew member from Dunbar Gary Fairbairn Coxswain

Mr Fairbairn said: "I am really honoured to be awarded the Bronze medal because it's only the sixth medal, and the first in over 30 years, to be awarded to a crew member from Dunbar. It was a proud moment when I was told.

"My hat, though, goes out to my crew members who were amazingly brave that day. In all my 30 years of being on the seas I've never encountered conditions like that. It's all about teamwork and my team was immense that day.

"They deserve their honour just as much as I do.

"The couple were extremely traumatised by the time we got to them and, to be honest, if they had stayed on board their yacht all night they would not have made it. The sea conditions were incredibly ferocious that day."

Wave Crookes, RNLI Divisional Inspector for Scotland, said: "The coxswain demonstrated exemplary leadership and the whole crew showed extreme courage throughout.

"The conditions during the passage to the casualty were extreme but at no stage did the crew consider giving up, even when the lifeboat sustained damage and equipment broke loose.

"Coxswain Fairbairn's boat handling was exemplary and neither the lifeboat nor the casualty suffered any damage while the casualties were evacuated."

Mr Fairbairn will be honoured next May at a ceremony in London.