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HM Coastguard
His Majesty's Coastguard (HM Coastguard or HMCG) is the section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the UK Maritime Search and Rescue Region. This includes the mobilisation, organisation and tasking of adequate resources to respond to persons either in distress at sea, or to persons at risk of injury or death on the cliffs or shoreline of the United Kingdom. Since 2015 it has also been responsible for land-based search and rescue helicopter operations.
The chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is Virginia McVea.
His Majesty's Coastguard is a uniformed service that fulfils six of the nine functions required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
The other three IMO functions; Customs/Border Control, Fisheries Control and Law Enforcement, are undertaken by the UK Border Force, Marine Management Organisation and local police forces, respectively. The maintenance of seamarks is the responsibility of Trinity House (in England and Wales), the Northern Lighthouse Board (in Scotland) and the Commissioners of Irish Lights (in Northern Ireland). HM Coastguard is a civilian agency, unlike other coastguard services around the world, as the duties traditionally associated with a military coastguard service are spread around the UK Civil Service and British Armed Forces. It is a Category 1 emergency responder alongside the United Kingdom's regional police, fire, and ambulance services as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
Lifeboat services are provided by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, or other independent lifeboat stations not affiliated with the RNLI, all under the coordination of the Coastguard. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency wet leases commercial aircraft for HM Coastguard operations — Sikorsky S-92s, AgustaWestland AW189s, and AgustaWestland AW139s — to provide aerial search and rescue coverage around Great Britain and Northern Ireland. HM Coastguard can similarly utilise a range of fixed-wing aircraft such as the Beechcraft King Air, Diamond DA-62, and Piper PA-31 Navajo in reconnaissance, surveillance, and counter-pollution roles. Aeronautical assets are coordinated through the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre based in Fareham, Hampshire, as and when requested by the regional Rescue Coordination Centres. An ocean-going emergency towing vehicle is also operated in areas not served by tug brokers. On the coastline, HM Coastguard maintains a network of cliff and mud rescue teams, composed of around 4,000 volunteers, and can call upon the National Coastwatch Institution which staffs many former Coastguard lookout stations around the coast. It is part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which in itself is an executive agency of the Department for Transport.
HM Coastguard was established in 1822. In 1809 the Preventive Water Guard was established, which may be regarded as the immediate ancestor of HM Coastguard. Its primary objective was to prevent smuggling, but it was also responsible for giving assistance to shipwrecks. For this reason, each Water Guard station was issued with Manby's Mortar (the mortar fired a shot with a line attached from the shore to the wrecked ship and was used for many years). In 1821 a committee of inquiry recommended that responsibility for the Preventive Water Guard should be transferred from HM Treasury to the Board of Customs. The Board of Custom and the Board of Excise each had their own long-established preventive forces: shore-based Riding Officers and sea-going Revenue Cruisers. The committee recommended the consolidation of these various related services. The Treasury agreed, and in a Minute dated 15 January 1822 directed that they be placed under the authority of the Board of Customs and named the Coast Guard.
The new Coast Guard inherited a number of shore stations and watch houses from its predecessor bodies as well as several coastal vessels, and these provided bases for its operations over the following years. In 1829 the first Coast Guard instructions were published, dealing mainly with discipline and the prevention of smuggling; they also stipulated that when a wreck took place the Coast Guard was responsible for taking all possible action to save lives, taking charge of the vessel and protecting property. In 1831, the Coast Guard took over duties from the Coast Blockade for the Suppression of Smuggling (which had been run by the Admiralty from a string of Martello Towers on the Kent and Sussex coast); this finally gave it authority over the whole of the UK coastline.
In the 1850s, with smuggling on the wane, oversight of the Coast Guard was transferred from the Board of Customs to the Admiralty. In the decades that followed, the Coast Guard (or Coastguard, as it came to be called) began to function more like an auxiliary Naval service, a recruitment ground for future naval personnel. Responsibilities for revenue protection were retained, but hands-on rescue services began to be undertaken more and more by Volunteer Life Brigades and by the lifeboats of the RNLI, with the Coast Guard acting in a support role.
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HM Coastguard
His Majesty's Coastguard (HM Coastguard or HMCG) is the section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within the UK Maritime Search and Rescue Region. This includes the mobilisation, organisation and tasking of adequate resources to respond to persons either in distress at sea, or to persons at risk of injury or death on the cliffs or shoreline of the United Kingdom. Since 2015 it has also been responsible for land-based search and rescue helicopter operations.
The chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is Virginia McVea.
His Majesty's Coastguard is a uniformed service that fulfils six of the nine functions required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO):
The other three IMO functions; Customs/Border Control, Fisheries Control and Law Enforcement, are undertaken by the UK Border Force, Marine Management Organisation and local police forces, respectively. The maintenance of seamarks is the responsibility of Trinity House (in England and Wales), the Northern Lighthouse Board (in Scotland) and the Commissioners of Irish Lights (in Northern Ireland). HM Coastguard is a civilian agency, unlike other coastguard services around the world, as the duties traditionally associated with a military coastguard service are spread around the UK Civil Service and British Armed Forces. It is a Category 1 emergency responder alongside the United Kingdom's regional police, fire, and ambulance services as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
Lifeboat services are provided by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, or other independent lifeboat stations not affiliated with the RNLI, all under the coordination of the Coastguard. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency wet leases commercial aircraft for HM Coastguard operations — Sikorsky S-92s, AgustaWestland AW189s, and AgustaWestland AW139s — to provide aerial search and rescue coverage around Great Britain and Northern Ireland. HM Coastguard can similarly utilise a range of fixed-wing aircraft such as the Beechcraft King Air, Diamond DA-62, and Piper PA-31 Navajo in reconnaissance, surveillance, and counter-pollution roles. Aeronautical assets are coordinated through the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre based in Fareham, Hampshire, as and when requested by the regional Rescue Coordination Centres. An ocean-going emergency towing vehicle is also operated in areas not served by tug brokers. On the coastline, HM Coastguard maintains a network of cliff and mud rescue teams, composed of around 4,000 volunteers, and can call upon the National Coastwatch Institution which staffs many former Coastguard lookout stations around the coast. It is part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which in itself is an executive agency of the Department for Transport.
HM Coastguard was established in 1822. In 1809 the Preventive Water Guard was established, which may be regarded as the immediate ancestor of HM Coastguard. Its primary objective was to prevent smuggling, but it was also responsible for giving assistance to shipwrecks. For this reason, each Water Guard station was issued with Manby's Mortar (the mortar fired a shot with a line attached from the shore to the wrecked ship and was used for many years). In 1821 a committee of inquiry recommended that responsibility for the Preventive Water Guard should be transferred from HM Treasury to the Board of Customs. The Board of Custom and the Board of Excise each had their own long-established preventive forces: shore-based Riding Officers and sea-going Revenue Cruisers. The committee recommended the consolidation of these various related services. The Treasury agreed, and in a Minute dated 15 January 1822 directed that they be placed under the authority of the Board of Customs and named the Coast Guard.
The new Coast Guard inherited a number of shore stations and watch houses from its predecessor bodies as well as several coastal vessels, and these provided bases for its operations over the following years. In 1829 the first Coast Guard instructions were published, dealing mainly with discipline and the prevention of smuggling; they also stipulated that when a wreck took place the Coast Guard was responsible for taking all possible action to save lives, taking charge of the vessel and protecting property. In 1831, the Coast Guard took over duties from the Coast Blockade for the Suppression of Smuggling (which had been run by the Admiralty from a string of Martello Towers on the Kent and Sussex coast); this finally gave it authority over the whole of the UK coastline.
In the 1850s, with smuggling on the wane, oversight of the Coast Guard was transferred from the Board of Customs to the Admiralty. In the decades that followed, the Coast Guard (or Coastguard, as it came to be called) began to function more like an auxiliary Naval service, a recruitment ground for future naval personnel. Responsibilities for revenue protection were retained, but hands-on rescue services began to be undertaken more and more by Volunteer Life Brigades and by the lifeboats of the RNLI, with the Coast Guard acting in a support role.