Francie Bonner retires

© Reproduced by kind permission from The Derry People and Donegal News

AFTER almost thirty five years service at sea last weekend marked the end of an era as Arranmore Lifeboat coxswain, Francie Bonner, retired from his postition. Francie (55) joined the lifeboat crew in his early twenties and was promoted to the rank of coxswain over fourteen years ago. He has participated in more rescues at sea than he cares to remember. Some of the more dramatic include the unsuccessful search for the six man crew of the 'Carrickatine' off the north Donegal coast in 1995 and the rescue of five people from the 'Claudia Maria' near Horn Head in the same year. The painstaking search for a group of five English students who perished at sea well over a decade ago when their small capsized in the channel between Arranmore and Rutland Island also sprang to Francie's mind when he reflected back on his time with the service this week.

'They were coming in from one of the islands when their boat capsized. One fell overboard and swam to the shore and raised the alarm. The search lasted for nearly a week but we found the remaining five bodies. One was actually a relation of the Queen,' Francie said.

He recently received a presentation at Buckingham Palace to mark his service with the RNLI. While the service now has top of the range radar and navigational equipment things were much different when Francie joined. 'When I first began to work with the service we operated on an open forty foot vessel. I remember my first time out as if it was only yesterday. We had to go to the aid of a small fishing boat which had got into difficulties off Inishbofin. It couldn't get ashore and was caught in high seas. The successful operation lasted for over twelve hours,' Francie said. Francie lost count of the number of times he led the lifeboat crew to sea but estimates it could have been around six to seven times per month over the thirty year period.

'I was a keen fishermen myself so it helped. When you get the call to go to the help of someone in distress you don't think too much about it. At times it was a tough job but I made many good friends over the years,' he said. While the lifeboat is primarily used to go to the aid of fishing vessels in distress at sea, Francie also points out that it has been used as an 'ambulance' in many medical emergencies.'I think we almost had a baby delivered on the boat one time,' he said lightheartedly.

There are now two full time crew members on the lifeboat, the coxswain a mechanic and fourteen others. In January the service is due to get a £2 million boat from the RNLI. Final work on this boat is being completed at the Isle of White in the south of England. It's a far cry from the early days as Francie recalls.

'It was an entirely different system back then. There is a strong emphasis now on safety and members have to be well trained. In the early days it was really a case of getting the first half dozen experienced fishermen you could get to attend an emergency situation,' Francie added.

Francie has handed over the reigns to his assistant coxswain, Anton Kavanagh, who has been second in command for the past four years. He paid tribute this week to Francie for his work over the years.'He had a great knowledge of the sea and his experience was invaluable. No doubt I will be calling on him for advice in the years ahead,' Anton said.Francie has now reached the retirement age for the RNLI but has no plans to remain on dry land. 'I hope to do some fishing in my spare time,' he said.