RNLI 200: Anstruther lifeboat crewman pens new verse to hymn to mark charity's bicentenary

And it was written by a member of Anstruther’s volunteer lifeboat crew, Richard ‘Mac’ MacDonald.

The verse was aired for the first time on television on Sunday during a special version of Songs of Praise to mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) founding in 1824.

Volunteers with the RNLI have been saving lives at sea for two centuries, all funded by public donations.

The verse, ‘For those in peril on the sea’, will be sung at regional services to mark the charity’s bicentenary at Westminster Abbey, Glasgow Cathedral, York Minster and Llandaff Cathedral as well as at a host of local services from St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney down to The Church of St Mary the Virgin on the Isle of Wight.

And Mac, who has been crew in Anstruther for six years, will be among the congregation gathered for the anniversary service in Westminster Abbey to hear it for himself today (Monday).

Representatives from each of the RNLI’s 238 stations around the UK and Ireland will be in attendance.

Mac said he wrote the verse after three members of the French lifeboat service, the Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer, were lost at sea in storm force conditions.

He explained: “I was aware that many other services including the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, and the US Coastguard had added their own verse to the hymn, but there was none for the RNLI, so I composed a verse and sent it off to the CEO of the RNLI, Mark Dowie.

"I didn’t really expect to hear back, but I was contacted by his office to say the verse had resonated with him, and in turn he’d submitted it to the Archbishop of Canterbury for his seal of approval, which in due course he received”.

The new verse has now been officially registered with the RNLI to be sung at all lifeboat launches, naming ceremonies and related church services.

Speaking ahead of Monday’s service, Mac said: “I’m trying to be blasé about it, ‘oh Westminster, London, who cares’, but honestly I think to be sitting there and hearing words that you wrote being sung by the choir in Westminster, and the congregation, is going to be quite something.”

With a new Shannon-class lifeboat due to arrive in Anstruther soon, the new verse will also be sung at its naming ceremony in due course.

Michael Bruce, full time Coxswain Mechanic at the station, added: “It’ll be a proud moment and to think that words one of our own crew wrote will not only be sung at all launches and in cathedrals and churches across the land for years to come, but also at our own naming ceremony, is something quite special.”

The verse written by Mac:

“O Lord, entrust their souls safekeep,

as lifeboats plough o’er oceans deep;

lend them your courage, strength and grace,

to those in peril, they must race:

Oh, hear us Lord, a sailor’s plea,

guide all who save lives out at sea!”

The RNLI Westminster anniversary service, at 11.30am on Monday, March 4, can be viewed here