"After almost fifty hours at sea, in the worst conditions imaginable, the Ballycotton lifeboat Mary Stanford brought the rescued survivors from the Daunt Rock lightvessel to shore, ending one of the most dramatic and outstanding rescues in the history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. For this courageous and stamina snapping rescue, the Gold Medal was awarded to Coxswain Patrick Sliney with Silver and Bronze medals going to the rest of the crew. The famous Daunt Rock rescue is just one of the many award-winning services performed by Ireland's lifeboat men and women, whose courage, dedication to duty and willingness to help seafarers in distress has characterised the service since the early years of the nineteenth century. Today, the lifeboat service in Ireland is the responsibility of the RNLI, which operates forty-five lifeboat stations, and this volume contains details of every one, with information about their history, rescues and current lifeboats."--Provided by the publisher.