Did you know there is a selfless group of men and women willing to drop everything at a moment's notice to rescue anyone in difficulty along the River Thames?

For the last 20 years, the RNLI crew at Gravesend lifeboat station have been doing just that, and surprisingly, many people are unaware that they are even there.

Jason Carroll, Gravesend RNLI station manager

Gravesend has been home to the RNLI station since January 2, 2002 and over the last two decades the crew has launched 1,945 times and rescued 912 people.

The charity provides a 24-hour search and rescue service around the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Volunteers at the Gravesend station cover an area from Holehaven, at the western end of Canvey Island, to the Thames Flood Barrier at Woolwich.

This is a distance of 26 miles, a patch which covers Kent, Essex, East and South London.

Jason Carroll, the station's manager, has been part of the crew since it began.

The 46-year-old said: "We're currently at Royal Terrace Pier, there is no public access, so it's difficult for people to actually see us.

"We'd like to engage more with the community and get them to come down and see the boat."

The RNLI works alongside the police, fire and ambulance services, and is sometimes the only asset available to help.

Jason said: "We have a short response time, we aim to be anywhere within our patch in 15 minutes, and reach the casualty within that time."

The crew consists of approximately 55 volunteers and nine full-time Thames commanders.

Over the years they have saved 70 lives and been to a number of emergencies.

Their furthest shout was at the Red Sands Tower, 26 miles away, and the longest shout they attended was eight hours due to a fire at Southend Pier.

All of their rescues are possible thanks to the public's donations and the legacy left by Olive Laura Deare, who funded the station's first lifeboat, a Mark 1 E Class, which was active until 2008 and can be seen in the Historic Lifeboat Collection at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

She also funded the station's second boat, an Atlantic 85, which is still being used today.

Jason explained that his most unusual call out was to a man on the river by Cliffe who was on a personal quest but causing some problems for other water traffic.

He said: "An individual in a small coracle boat, made out of willow and horse skin, nearly got run over by a container vessel who was going to Tilbury.

"When we went alongside him, we said, you're causing a bit of a problem with all the commercial traffic, where are you going and what are you doing.

"He said he was taking this egg of peace to put it in the womb of the ocean.

"So I say that's very interesting mate, whereabouts is the womb of the ocean and he said to me, just off Southend Pier. So it was quite funny."

It isn't only people the RNLI help, the crew have also assisted dogs, kittens, seals, horses, cows and even a swan.

Gravesend lifeboat station is able to help with rescues involving commercial and pleasure vessels, which could involve mechanical or medical incidents.

They also help people in the water or those in distress.

Following the Marchioness tragedy, a collision between two vessels which resulted in the deaths of 51 people, the Thames safety inquiry, conducted by the Lord Justice Clarke, recommended a dedicated search and rescue service on the tidal reaches of the River Thames.

And so, the RNLI set up four stations at Teddington, Chiswick, Tower and Gravesend.

At the same time, the Maritime and Coastguard agency also set up London Coastguard.

Jason finished: "If you need help from the RNLI, please dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

"You may not think that the individual is not in trouble or it's a serious problem, but please dial 999, let the Coastguard and ourselves make that decision.

"We would rather attend 20 incidents that are not real emergencies than one fatality because someone hasn't called 999 and asked for the Coastguard."

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