Marine ambulance marks 30 years of service

From daring cliff rescues, to a baby born at sea, and even a Royal pageant, Guernsey's volunteers and paramedics on its marine ambulance have responded to more than 1,000 calls in 30 years.

They have jointly crewed the marine ambulance Flying Christine III to provide treatment for the seriously ill and severely injured and ambulance transport between the islands.

The vessel is equipped like a road ambulance, with a dedicated clinical treatment area, low in the middle of the vessel to provide maximum patient comfort and a practical working area.

Volunteer Gary Ward said: "It's an iconic boat, to be part of this is amazing... there's challenge but it's something we all relish and you get a lot back from it - literally saving lives."

"I'm really impressed by the vessel," said Mark Mapp, chief executive officer of Guernsey's Ambulance and Rescue Service.

"It's the third iteration of the Flying Christine, the actual service's been more than 75 years and this is just one vessel in part of that journey."

The first was launched in 1952, with the third of its namesake built in Guernsey by Seaward Marine with a design life of 30 years.

A major refit - upgrading the vessel and clinical facilities - was started earlier this year.

Mr Mapp said: "She's done really well with refurbishing and to a certain extent at the moment at a cost of £200,000.

"But that will mean she will be able to continue for at least another decade - it's a big chunk out of our reserves currently we've had to invest in her.

"The Flying Christine is purely run on voluntary donations which pays for supporting the crew and supporting the vessel and so we're always looking for charitable donations to keep her running.

"The reality is the Flying Christine is designed like an ambulance for delivery of medicine and medical care, the Flying Christine is absolutely unique in being able to do that."

The vessel is crewed by a coxswain, engineer and navigator - all volunteers from the local maritime community - who are on-call on a rota system and a paramedic-led medical team from the Emergency Ambulance Service, capable of providing advanced pre-hospital care to ill or injured patients.

Skipper Andy Lowe said: "The ambulance crews are the ones I feel deserve the credit.

"They're not seafarers themselves and some of the trips are pretty horrendously rough and they've got to get there and function."

He said one callout sticks in his mind: "We had a baby born on board shortly after we left Sark, it was very heartwarming.

"We hadn't been gone five minutes and the ambulance station officer, who was on the bridge, looked through the back curtain and said: 'I think something is happening' and the next thing we had another member onboard."

Mr Ward, marine operations manager, said he remembered one particular call when a man had fallen down a cliff at the south of Sark by the silver mines at Port Gorey.

He said: "We had to get in close underneath the cliffs. Conditions were OK, quite calm, and the only way of getting to the casualty was the two medics put on their dry suits and jumped over the side with a floating stretcher.

"They swam with the stretcher to the cliff edge climbed up... treated the patient, lowered them down with a rope... and then swam out with the stretcher.

"It was a good result, it was multiple injuries and it was really the only way of doing it quickly and efficiently."

On why he volunteered, he said: "I've got this indelible memory as a kid in the 1960s fishing down the lighthouse... there was always a group of kids down there like there is today.

"Someone would say the Christine is coming out and so we would drop all our rods and run to watch her come out.

"I just remember this beautiful boat screaming out the pierheads, going out on a rescue... it was an amazing sight.

"I remember as young as I was floating a little boat in the bath and thinking one day I want to be involved in the sea - like with this boat, where we're lucky enough to have all the experienced guys."

Tom Sauvarin, volunteer crew member, said: "All local boaters, it's something to give back to the community.

"When we get called, we don't really know, to an extent, what we're going to - good shouts, bad shouts, challenging shouts.

"It's a fantastic boat, I think it's a real asset… it's a crucial asset to Guernsey, Herm and Sark and Alderney.

"And it's not just the islands, we also provide service to cruise ships and we go alongside pleasure boats and commercial boats as well."

Besides its emergency duties, the Flying Christine III joined about 1,000 other vessels in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in 2012 and represented St John and the national ambulance services.

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