Coxswain Stuart was a member of the lifeboat crew in Amble, Northumberland, where he was born in 1955 to a seafaring family. He worked there as a fleet mechanic, looking after vessels from other stations, as well as maintaining the Amble lifeboat. He transferred to Fowey in 1982 and became a skipper six years later.

He says: 'Ninety-nine per cent of the time it’s the Coast Guards who decide when an emergency at sea is serious and request a call-out for a lifeboat or helicopter. It happens between 40 and 50 times a year. Incidents can range from kids stuck on a rock and cut off by the tide to towing in a fishing boat with engine trouble. Recently a crew member aboard a 7000–ton ship fell down the hold and badly injured himself, so we had to board the ship and give him first aid treatment. Of course, it can be more serious than that if we have to rescue someone who has been swept overboard in a force 10 gale with winds gusting up to 50 or 60 knots. You know just how bad the weather is, but uppermost in your mind is concentrating on the job in hand. It doesn’t have to be blowing up a storm for accidents to happen at sea. They can occur in any weather. We get more call-outs in the summer because there are so many pleasure craft around here.'