On this epic journey, there's something entrancing about all the launch ramps and slipways that feature around our coastline — something so simple and pure about these iconic pieces of RNLI* infrastructure.
To know that a lifeboat can launch at a moment's notice and rush to the aid of those in peril on the sea is a striking reminder of what it really means to crew one of these extraordinary vessels.
The last photograph in this little collection is perhaps the most striking reminder of all: The view from the old Penlee RNLI boathouse in Mousehole, depicting the slipway down which the Solomon Browne launched on 19th December 1981, never to return.
All the photographs are 12x10 inch Ambrotypes (wet plate collodion positive images on glass) and are available as prints in limited editions of 50.
* Royal National Lifeboat Institution
