The RNLI is not an international organisation it's a purely (or so I thought) UK based lifeboat service. Being a separate country one would have assumed they would have their own lifeboat service, at least I did.....which is why I posted this thread.

You still haven't told me what you find so funny about the RNLI?

National police isn't an international organisation either, but sometimes international co-operation comes in handy. Same here.

So, from that, you wouldn't be surprised if the US Coastguard lso operated in Canadian waters? What about US Customs officers working in Mexico?

Most countries have their own police force, they don't have another country's force enforcing laws in their own country.

Does Canada rely entirely on the US coastguard for it's rescues? I think not.

Uh, you mised my point...http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

Now you've explained it, Bungle, I have to agree it is pretty shocking afterall. I will tell all my friends and family tonight, as they need to know this. I'm sure they will thank me.

Lifeboat institute.. who cares about lifeboats? Only a specific group is interested something like the lifeboat institute, and that's those who work there

I think people in the process of drowning would be pretty interested too.

No I didn't, you missed mine.

Umm people who travel on the sea? Which is almost everyone at some time!

Actually I don't think they would care WHO was saving them,more that SOMEONE was saving them.

No, I wouldn't be surprised if the US coastguard operated in Canadian waters. Maybe not the whole of the Canadian waters, but a certain overlap wouldn't suprise me in the least. US custom officers work at the borders between Mexico and the US, I'm sure. And Bungle, for certain tasks the European police forces do work together. In particular, some of the more international crimes (think drug running) are often stopped by police forces working together, even across eachother's borders.

It may not be a regular situation for the royal coastguard to protect Ireland's drowning people as well, but it doesn't surprise me, let alone shock me.

You all keep talking about countries organisations giving assistance to other countries. The RNLI do not give assistance, they do the whole job in Eire. They have bases there because they are solely responsible for rescuing people in Irish waters.

If the UK police set up police stations in the Netherlands and took over the job from the Dutch police would you not be surprised?

Oh, and the RNLI has nothing to do with the coastguard; it's a separate charitable organisation.

God, you lot at a dinner party would bring a nun to murder. Are you all this pedantic and thoroughly dull in real-life? Surely you know some you can make safe assumptions in conversations?

I figured there was something missing here... Christ Bungle, you say others should've looked up the RNLI on Google, I think it wouldn't have been bad if you'd done so yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_N...at_Institution

The RNLI was founded on 4 March 1824 as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, adopting the present name in 1854. It now operates as an international service to the peoples of the UK and Ireland and has official charity status in each nation.

The RNLI operates 444 lifeboats (332 are on station, 112 are in the relief fleet), from 235 lifeboat stations around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. I thought we were talking about a national thing (like the national coastguard or police force or customs services would be), looks like it's just some random organisation that operates internationally... Is all the confusion really that you were caught off guard by their "Royal" status?

/shakes head....

oh http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/images/bungle.jpg

How and why did this thread ever reach 6 pages. It's funny that no one actually cares about the information learnt by the OP. It's now just a glorified pissing contest.

Which, apart from Ireland (the Republic at least) are all British territories. See what I'm getting at here?

If you people knew anything about the history between Ireland and the UK (which most of you should) then you'd know why I'd be surprised that a British organisation with the word "Royal" in its title serves as the sole lifeboat service in Eire.