Ship’s bell for lifeboat baby

Oban lifeboat crew kept up a tradition when they presented a ship’s bell to VIP Emma Cato on her 18th birthday.

Emma, from Fionnphort, is one of four babies born to Mull mothers during transfers from Craignure to Oban in the lifeboat vessel’s history.

To mark her special birthday, Emma was given a brass ship’s bell engraved with
her name – fulfilling a longstanding RNLI tradition.

Emma and her parents visited Oban lifeboat station last week to get a second trip on the lifeboat out to Loch Linnhe where she was born mid-transfer in 2005.

Eighteen years ago, a midwife had joined the lifeboat crew before they set sail in the  early hours for Craignure but on the way back it became obvious Emma was not going to wait until they reached the mainland.

Emma’s mum Rachel remembers feeling she was in safe hands. “My recollection is of feeling totally looked after. The crew and the midwife knew what they were doing; I just had to rely on everyone else. We were just trying to get to Oban – we never thought Emma would be born halfway across on Loch Linnhe,” she said.

Donald Matheson was one of the crew on board at the time and he had the honour of presenting Emma with her bell and a photograph of the lifeboat on which she was born, the Mora Edith Macdonald.

“Everything happened very quickly. The midwife was checking Rachel and said we need to stop right now and a short time later Emma was born. Emma’s dad Glenn had his hands full looking after her older sister Abbie, so I was holding Rachel’s hand and acting as a sort of second dad. It was a lovely moment for all of us on the crew,” said Donald.

Emma’s dad Glenn remembers being rather distracted looking after two-year-old Abbie. He said “Abbie was on my knee and one of the crew had handed her the wee soft rabbit toy that travels on the lifeboat. We were sitting in the radio operator’s seat. I spent the whole time trying to keep her hands down because she kept wanting to press the buttons on all the consoles in front of us. Emma was 10 days early. She caught everyone by surprise, but we were well looked after and it was lovely to be back on the boat 18 years on.”

As part of her VIP day out, Emma also got the chance to take the helm of the lifeboat alongside coxswain Ally Cerexhe.

“I’m really glad to have got on board. I’ve seen it often when I was coming across to
school on the ferry, but always from a distance.”

Caption: Emma Cato with mum Rachel, dad Glenn and Oban lifeboat coxswain Ally
Cerexhe

Photograph: Stephen Lawson
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