To accuse the RNLI of wrongdoing for rescuing people is to reject two centuries of maritime ethics. It is also to ignore the cultural tradition that shaped the organisation, including the hymn “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”, the Navy Hymn, written in 1860 and long associated with lifeboat crews. Its plea, “for those in peril on the sea,” captures exactly what the RNLI stands for: compassion without hesitation.
RNLI: Misreading Who They Are
As an island nation, Great Britain and the constituent nations have an understanding of the power of the sea and the need for travel across the oceans. People have always been in danger from the sea. However, despite the excellent work of the RNLI to saves lives on the sea, in recent months, the RNLI station at Portsmouth has found itself the target of a wave of hostility from certain right‑wing commentators and activists.
The accusations have been loud, emotive, and profoundly misguided: claims that the RNLI is “colluding” in irregular migration, that its crews are “taxpayer-funded taxi services,” or that it has somehow abandoned its mission. These attacks have spread quickly online, amplified by outrage algorithms and political opportunism. They collapse under even the lightest scrutiny. To understand why, you only need to understand what the RNLI is, what it has always been, and the moral tradition it stands within.
The RNLI isn’t a political organisation or a border force. It isn’t a government agency. It’s a charity, founded in 1824, whose sole purpose is, and always has been, to save lives at sea. That mission is unconditional. It does not discriminate by nationality, legal status, race, religion, or circumstance. It does not ask questions before pulling someone from the water. It does not pause to check paperwork while a boat is sinking. It does not weigh political consequences while a human being is drowning.
The RNLI exists because the sea is indifferent, and because human life isn’t. To attack the RNLI for rescuing people, any people, is to misunderstand its purpose at the most basic level. It’s like attacking firefighters for extinguishing the wrong kind of fire, or paramedics for treating the wrong kind of patient.
The RNLI’s crews are guardians: guardians of coastlines, guardians of communities, guardians of the ancient maritime ethic that says a life in danger must be saved. They’re volunteers who leave their beds at 3 a.m., who run toward storms, who risk their own lives for strangers they will never meet again. They’re not political actors. They’re moral actors.
This tradition of guardianship is woven deeply into British maritime culture, and nowhere is it expressed more clearly than in the hymn “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.” Written in 1860 by William Whiting and set to music by John Bacchus Dykes, it became known as the Navy Hymn, sung by sailors, lifeboat crews, and naval chaplains for more than a century and a half. Its refrain, “for those in peril on the sea”, is one of the most recognisable lines in English hymnody. It’s a prayer for protection, a plea for mercy, and a reminder that the sea’s dangers are universal.
The hymn has been sung on battleships, at memorials, at funerals, and in lifeboat stations. It’s part of the cultural DNA of maritime service.
To hear that line, those in peril on the sea, is to understand the RNLI’s calling. It’s not selective. not conditional and it’s not political. It’s human.
That is why the recent attacks aren’t only wrong but absurd. They’re a rejection of Britain’s own maritime heritage and a denial of the RNLI’s founding principles. They’re an attempt to politicise an organisation that has deliberately remained outside politics for two centuries, and they’re an insult to the volunteers who have saved more than 144,000 lives since the charity began.
The RNLI’s work is documented in museums across the country: the National Maritime Museum, the RNLI College in Poole, the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Their archives are filled with photographs of rescues, lifeboats, storms, and crews who stood watch through wars, disasters, and tragedies. These images, stark, heroic, often heartbreaking, show exactly what the RNLI does. They show why it exists. They show what it means to be a guardian of the sea.
To attack the RNLI is to attack the very idea that human life is worth saving. It’s to attack compassion. It’s to attack duty. We’re watching an attack on the volunteers who have pulled fishermen, sailors, migrants, holidaymakers, naval personnel, and children from the water. In short, it’s an act of political theatre performed at the expense of people who risk their lives for others.
The RNLI doesn’t need defending. Its record speaks for itself. Let’s restate the truth plainly: the RNLI saves lives. All lives. Without hesitation, prejudice and without political calculation. They’re guardians, and guardians deserve gratitude, not abuse.
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Further Reading
- Mortimer, Theo. “175 Years of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.” Dublin Historical Record, vol. 52, no. 2, 1999, pp. 138–42. JSTOR. Accessed 18 Sept. 2026.
- Steven Morris, “RNLI steps up security after abuse by far-right agitators over small boat rescues,” The Guardian, 10 September 2026. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/10/rnli-steps-up-security-after-attacks-by-far-right-agitators-over-small-boat-rescues.
- Kate Devlin, “RNLI protests: Far-right activists target lifeboat crews over Channel small boat rescues,” The Independent, 10 September 2026. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rnli-protests-channel-small-boats-b3052025.html.