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Coxswain Dai Chant on the 200 Voices podcast
200 Voices an RNLI podcast

‘The lifeboat was completely buried by this big wave’

193. Manic Sunday: Dai Chant

It was anything but a day of rest – a legendary St Davids coxswain on his greatest test.

For local fisherman Dai Chant, volunteering on the St Davids lifeboat was perhaps inevitable. On 26 February 1989, the Mayday call came in for his most dangerous shout – to lead the rescue of four fellow fishermen, as their trawler Stephanie Jane dragged perilously towards South Bishop Lighthouse.

Coxswain Chant takes us out into the boiling seas and rocky islands off the Pembrokeshire coast. From screaming winds to eerie silence as the lifeboat was submerged, we hear about the teamwork it takes to save lives in a violent storm. Awarded a Bronze Medal for his command of the rescue, Dai explains why the skill of his dependable crew made it a medal ‘for the whole boat’.

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