SNIPPET: "When you've grown up with the sea, joining the Coast Guard isn't something you have to think twice about," Eoin O'CONNOR, a Valentia Unit volunteer explains. Researchers may be interested in an eight-page story by Pol O Conghaile, photos by Kim Haughton, of the Valencia search and rescue community in the Nov-Dec 2002 issue of "Ireland of the Welcomes" periodical. We tend to take for granted the dedication and loyalty of those who work as part of the Irish Coastguard and Lifeboat Services patrolling our shorelines. Those who come quickly and unselfishly to the rescue of sailors and swimmers unfortunate enough to get in trouble in the seas around the coast deserve our gratitude. Member and volunteer training includes first aid, resuscitation and radio procedure. Regular search and rescue exercises also involve abseiling down the side of a cliff in a harness on the edge of the ring of Kerry near Knightstown, Valentia Island As Richard ROBINSON writes in 'Emergency Kerry Coast' -- "For on their vigilance depends the question of effective and timely rescue, or no rescue at all." The tumultuous seas out west brew up one of the world's most dangerous search and rescue environments. Last year, Valentia responded to 593 incidents, assisting and saving 2,288 lives. Above the lighthouse at Cromwell Point, a belligerent sun muscled with the clouds, makes Kerry beautiful. On the go in various guises since 1822, many of Ireland's coastal units have traditionally drawn from the local community. That has changed to some degree, but you'll still come across names that go back generations. Valentia is no different. By a quiet, algae-strewn slipway on Knightstown Pier, the 'Rowland Watts' lies rotting. A hulking Barnet class boat, saviour of 132 lives before she was decommissioned in 1982, today she is a tired old shell, a playground for birds. Around her, nets, pots, tyres and steel are piled in bundles; an elderly couples is seen painting hulls. It cost 2,000 pounds to buy this old workhorse from the fish farm in which she played out her days; money raised by volunteers hoping, over time, to make her the centrepiece of a new maritime museum on Valentia Island. A vision is to link the young lifesavers of today with yellowing photographs of stern-faced men from the past. Originally known as 'Oilean Dairbhre' (Island of the Oaks), Valentia's responsibilities to the Irish Search and Rescue community include that of being one of 52 outposts comprising the Irish Coast Guard and, together with Malin Head and Dublin, her Marine Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC) is one of three co-coordinating search and rescue safety awareness, pollution and salvage operations in their associated areas. This Kerry island was a haven to seafarers on a rugged coast marked on the earliest maps of Europe. Valentia has always remained synonymous with communication. It was from here that a telegraph weather report was despatched to London in 1862; from here, the first transatlantic cable was cast out in 1866, and, when the coastal radio station in Crookhaven, in neighbouring Co. Cork, closed in 1914, it was transferred to Valentia. The story of changing technology brought great improvements but also some sadness. On the morning of Feb 1, 1999, the final sentence of the last Morse Code message transmitted from this island left Kerry. "This is Valentia Radio (EJK) signing off on wireless telegraph. Slan libh go leir." From 'Lusitania' in 1915 to the tragic Fastnet yacht race of 1974, Samuel Morse's musical language had saved countless lives off the Irish coast. Driving from Dohilla to Knightstown, Area Office Michael O'CONNOR exemplifies the sense of heritage that has contrived to make Valentia's role in Irish coastal safety a central one. His grandfather served as a volunteer with the IRCG, as do two of his sons. He was awarded a Bronze Medal for his part in the rescue of eleven Spanish fishermen from 'Big Cat' - a trawler which ran aground at Beginish Island in 1989. Researchers might also be interested in Richard ROBINSON's book, 'Emergency: Kerry Coast."