John S. Platt reporting about RNI in 1999

Updated Saturday August 14th 1999

As we approached the end of July work on the lightvessel was progressing at a very fast pace. A signwriter came on board and painted the name "Tiptree" in the sides of the superstructure, lifebelts were painted, the helideck was finished with the RNI logo and below decks the inside was cleaned and spruced up. Kitchen equipment was loaded and installed, hot meals were now available. We even had a television that had a mind of its own, it decided which channel we would watch until we discovered that by increasing the voltage to it we once again had control over the thing.

On the 26th we were moved to the Trinity House pier where heavy safety equipment could be more easily handled on board, on the other side of the pier was our sister ship LV 20. She is a fully automated version of ours and had been brought in for maintenance having spent almost 5 years on the Varne station. She was in remarkably good condition with little rust of ageing. However, she was covered in bird crap!

By the 28th the studio was almost finished and the transmitter was installed on the bridge by Paul Maclaren (Big Mac), tests were carried out using an H.F. amateur rig and all seemed well.

The following day the ship was moved to a mooring in the River Stour, opposite Shotley Gate. Being at sea (well almost) 24 hour watches were introduced to monitor the ships position and to my horror I was given the 0300 to 0600 watch. However, this turned out to be fine for me as it was possible to watch a glorious sunrise, I then volunteered for that watch.

We received another visit from the Shipping Inspectorate to look the ship over and to assess its seaworthiness. We were issued with the necessary certificate but with a couple of provisos'. One we needed another inflatable liferaft and second, a full set of charged fire extinguishers.

At 0001 hrs on August 3rd, test transmissions commenced on 1575 kHz and ran until 0600 hrs when Alan West relaunched RNI, which I completely missed.

However, things were not all well. It seemed that we had broken the terms of the RSL by broadcasting from the wrong position and after a complaint from an anonymous source we received notification, from the Radio Authority to cease transmitting, which we did.

We now had even more reason to get to sea off Clacton. You could argue that we were in fact a true illegal offshore radio station, if only for a short time and without our knowledge.

The following day we received a message informing us that a tug was to arrive that morning to take us to our mooring off Clacton, we were on our way.

At 11 am the tug "Trimley" pulled up along side and towed us to the new anchorage off Clacton where the Trinity House vessel "Vectis" would complete the attachment to the anchorage.

To comply with safety requirements set down by the marine safety agency all porthole deadlights had to be shut and vent pipes on deck plugged. The crew had to leave the ship and spend the tow on board the "Trimley".

Whilst en route several ships gave us signs of encouragement (I think that's what they were) and we passed Rough Towers, known to many as Sealand. No one appeared to be home there.

We arrived at our mooring at about 1530 and waited for the Trinity House tender whose crew would attach us to the mooring. This was a complicated procedure which took some time but by 1730 the "Vectis" had delivered our second liferaft and we returned to the air at 1740.

On board Mick Catchpole, Stuart Dobson, Dick Palmer, Paul Maclaren, Alan West, Norman Barrington, Clive Boutell and myself.

That is how we made it. Broadcasting is broadcasting and little needs to be said about that apart from the spirit of RNI once again travels through the ether.

Life on board settled into a routine, most of the boring tasks being done with good humour and not too much moaning. It was a good crew and we spent many a night sitting in the mess telling offshore anecdotes and making fun of whoever was in the studio. Here you see A.J. Beirens from Belgium whilst visiting the ship on Tuesday August 3rd.

Over the next few weeks personnel will change and the good ship LV18 will continue to spread its magic for a while.

It is worth remembering that the whole project came into being through the imagination of one person, Paul Graham. In just 12 weeks he managed the project from dream to reality and I am sure he will not mind me saying that he should be justly proud of his achievements and for the money he will raise for the RNLI.

I thank him for allowing me to achieve one of my lives ambitions, to spend some time at sea on a light vessel, and would do it all again.

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