Dover -- Lifeboats and WWII Tunnels (Part 1 of 2)

 

We docked in busy Dover in a secure zone at the commercial port, which ended up creating some logistical challenges for us to bring visitors aboard as the area wasn't open to the general public. A benefit for us was that after hours it was the exact inverse of Bristol, where we had to raise the passarella at night to keep drunks from the beer garden from climbing aboard. Here, we barely needed a night watch at all, as the entire dock was secured by port authority. Our neighbours here were the RNLI, the lifeboat service. 

Dover is the closest port in the UK to the mainland, and the lifeboat station here is a busy one. In recent years they have been faced with increasing numbers of migrants crossing the channel. Their policy is that they don't judge or decide who is "worthy" of rescue; they merely save every single one they can, bring them ashore and let the authorities sort them out later. Most of the days our ship was docked in Dover, we saw the RNLI head out on one or more rescues. Sometimes they arranged to be met by immigration authorities as they returned to the dock with survivors aboard. One day I remember well, the crews came back wet, silent, and stone-faced. We didn't ask for details. 

Some excerpts from an informational plaque at the small RNLI visitor center at the head of the dock:

"Why Dover's volunteers are dedicated to saving every one: [Since] 2018, greater numbers of small boats began crossing the Channel from France to the UK. Many of these inflatable boats are unseaworthy and overloaded, and break apart or suffer engine failure mid-Channel. It's rare for anyone onboard to hold any maritime or navigational knowledge." 

"The Dover Strait is the wrold's busiest shipping lane. Around 500-600 ships a day pass through the narrow waters between the UK and France. These ships tower over the small boats and are unable to stop or change course if they find one in their path."

"Rescue without question: This issue has divided opinion, as it is linked to wider debates around immigration and related government policies. The RNLI is independednt of government and funded by donations from generous supporters of our mission. We have no influence over the circumstances that bring people to make thse crossings, nor do we engage in political debate around them. Our crews simply respond when tasked to save lives and will continue to do so."

Mannequin in the RNLI information center. I do visualize these guys as slightly larger-than-life. (For the record, I'm about 5'8" in those shoes.)

 

The secure gate leading to the dock. 

Closer view of the gate. The spiky balls around it sort of remind me of the cartoon illustration of covid germs from 2020, but they're actually a miniature version of harbour chain. It would be laid on the bottom of the channel or entry to the port in peaceful times. If an enemy threatened, they would raise the chain (like closing the "gate" across the entry). The spikes would pierce the wooden hulls of approaching enemy ships. Now it's just maritime decor.

One of the RNLI rescue boats.

Like nearby Ramsgate, the chalk cliffs here held tunnels that were important to WWII defense. The tunnels we visited in Ramsgate the previous summer, though, held the stories of ordinary civilians taking shelter within. One set of the tunnels here were used for strategic command, another for a secure hospital. The Germans knew these existed, but not what went on inside ... and like the HMS Victory in Portsmouth, decided not to bomb them because they might want to use these structures for themselves "after they won."

Entry to the upper tunnel complex

Conference table

State of the art secure communications, WWII-style.