The British lifeboat crews who fight the awesome power of the ocean
- Text by Alex King
- Photography by Nigel Millard
![The British lifeboat crews who fight the awesome power of the ocean](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Finisterre-RNLI_2023-03-27-083418_bvdq.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
If you’re a surfer, sea swimmer or sailor you will have come face-to-face with the almighty power of the ocean – and you’ll know it’s a force to be respected.
In his new show Volunteers Who Brave The Sea, photographer Nigel Millard celebrates one of the world’s oldest lifesaving charities, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which has saved 140,000 lives since it was founded in 1824.
![Hoylake lifeboat crew in 1991. Backs of the crew on the shore with ropes.](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/LI30485@Hoylake-lifeboat-crew-i.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
![The view from the wheelhouse of the Hoylake Mersey class lifeboat Lady of Hilbre 12-005, as the crew search for a casualty in the water near the North Hoyle wind farm. Taken from The Lifeboat: Courage on our Coasts. Page 36.](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/LI38922@The-view-from-the-wheel.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
As a volunteer crew member himself, Millard understands the often dramatic battles lifeboat crews face to save lives at sea. His series features reportage images of RNLI lifeboats in action in tempestuous waters around the UK alongside portraits of RNLI volunteers.
It’s a collaboration with Finisterre, whose founder Tom Kay is also a volunteer crew member, and will be on display at their Covent Garden store. Millard’s photos also feature in the brand’s new lookbook, modelled by UK lifeboat crews.
![Finisterr from lookbook](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Finisterr-from-lookbook.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
![Nigel-Millard-Huck](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Nigel-Millard-Huck.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
See Nigel Millard’s Volunteers Who Brave The Sea at Finisterre’s Covent Garden flagship store, February 11 to April 18.
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