Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2011 | Page 54

ON THE WATER

New
Dove
ready to fly to the rescue
There was a pleasant surprise
for the High Sheriff of the Isle
of Wight, Susie Sheldon, after
she performed the naming
ceremony of Sandown and
Shanklin’s new Independent
Inshore Lifeboat.
After the champagne was
splashed over ‘Dove 2’ by Susie,
she was invited on board by
coxswain Mark Birch to take
part in a practice rescue exercise
in Sandown Bay, and had no
hesitation in accepting the
offer.
An accomplished sailor, who
competes each year at Cowes
Week, Susie was treated to
several high-speed twists and
turns in the bay before the ‘man
overboard’ was rescued and
brought back to dry land.
The £30,000 needed to
acquire the new lifeboat was
raised in just two years through
charitable donations, but the
name ‘Dove 2’ has history
Above top: Coxswain Mark
Birch with High Sheriff Susie
Sheldon on board.
Above bottom: The new
lifeboat is named by the High
Sheriff.
Right: Launched and ready
for action.

54

www.visitislandlife.com

stretching back well over a
century.
Coxswain Mark, who has been
a member of the 17-strong
Sandown and Shanklin Lifeboat
crew for nearly 20 years,
explained: “We chose the name
‘Dove 2’ because I am from
Shanklin, and because of this
work I am involved in, I love
reading up on lifeboat stories.
“I found a lot of history about
a little boat called ‘Dove’ which
worked off Shanklin from
1884 through to 1916. It was a
rowing boat which was used as
a lifeboat in Sandown Bay and
was put into the water by the
horses that pulled the carriages
up and down the beach for
the Victorians. It was an
independent lifeboat, and the
first one ever to operate in the
bay, so I thought it would be
very fitting if we called our new
boat ‘Dove 2’.”
He added: “We managed to