The Royal National Lifeboat Institution's Gold Medal, known colloquially as the lifeboatman's VC, is presented only for the most outstanding sea rescues. In this book, specially commissioned paintings recreate more than 30 of the most exceptional of these rescues in the Institution's 170-year history. Each painting is accompanied by an account of the rescue and those involved, including eye-witness and contemporary newspaper reports. The accounts are supported by details of the paintings, contemporary engravings and photographs, and the book is completed with a history of the development of the RNLI, to which 50% of the royalties are donated. show more