First ever full-time coxswain appointed at Scarborough RNLI

Taking on the role is Lee Marton, 44, who has been an RNLI volunteer for almost a decade.

His appointment means that Scarborough lifeboat station is now one of a growing number of two-man stations dotted around Britain and Ireland.

Lee works alongside full-time lifeboat mechanic Dave Horsley.

The arrival of the new Shannon lifeboat in Scarborough and the construction of a new lifeboat house to accommodate it has brought a greater workload, which can’t be handled

by one person.

Lifeboat operations manager Andy Volans said: “The workload, especially as the station is now a visitor centre, was getting too much and it was felt that the volunteers couldn’t be asked to do all the extra work.

“The technology has got cleverer and the new equipment, including the Shannon and its launch-and-recovery vehicle, requires much more maintenance and training."

After joining the crew of the inshore lifeboat in January 2009, Lee worked his way through the ranks.

He qualified as a mechanic, a navigator and then second coxswain.

Working with the RNLI’s central fleet, he helped roll out the new Shannon lifeboat at stations all around Britain and has been an assessor trainer at Scarborough for two years.

Born and bred in Scarborough, Lee attended Gladstone Road and Graham schools.

He spent seven years in the Royal Marines, becoming a coxswain of various vessels from RIBs to landing craft. A RIB is a rigid inflatable boat.

Lee travelled the world with the service and left in 1997 to set up a building firm in his home town.

Lee and his wife Sue, who are celebrating their silver wedding anniversary this week, have two children.

Their daughter Jessica is at the Sixth Form College and their son Jacob is a royal naval officer in flight training with the joint fleet arm, based in Dartmouth. He has also been a lifeboat volunteer in Scarborough.