Black death looms oer your head as a giant wall of water.
In your mind your end is near, so you paddle oh, so harder.
But in your despair as if merely a glare, the heavens open wide.
You reach for my arm as I pull you from harm...
You can trust me, I am here.
I am your LifeGuard."

	Lifeboat Services Around the World has a site and links totally devoted to Volunteer Lifesavers!
	Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol of Australia
	Australian Volunteer Coast Guard
	Bahamas Air-Sea Rescue Association
	Bulgarian Red Cross Water Life Saving Service
	Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary
	Canadian Lifeboat Institution
	Koninklijke Nederlanse Redding Maatschappij - Royal Dutch Rescue Society
	Eesti Piirivalve (Estonian Border Guard's Maritime Rescue Coordination Center)
	Finnish LifeBoat Society
	French SNSM - Societe Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer
	DGZRS - German Sea Rescue Service
	National Life-Saving Association of Iceland (NLAI)
	Italian Lifeboat Institution Societa di Soccorso di Naufraghi
	Latvian Sea Search and Rescue Service
	New Zealand CoastGuard Federation
	Norsk Selskab til Skibbridnes Redning (Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue)
	Royal National Lifeboat Institute
	National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa
	Southeast Louisiana Search and Rescue
	Swedish Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons
	Maritime and Coastal Rescue Honorary Association of Uruguay
	United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
	British Virgin Islands Search and Rescue

• SWITZERLAND, which is not on the sea, runs 75 rescue craft. Boaters on Lac Leman are well cared for.
• BELGIUM, GREECE, PORTUGAL, and POLAND are examples of European countries whose lifeboats are provided by the government maritime organizations. In addition, Portugal also runs a voluntary lifesaving service, founded in 1980.
• The BAHAMAS, BERMUDA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS, and the DUTCH ANTILLES all run sea lifesaving services, some of which is voluneer assisted.
• CHINA, which is reputed to have the world's first lifeboat service at the mouth of the Yangtse in the mid-18th Century, now has the Maritime Rescue and Salvage Bureau, founded in 1978. Although a government and commercially sponsored service, it deserves mention here.
• JAPAN founded its wholly-voluntary lifeboat service in 1888, after a visit to Europe by a former British Prime Minister. It operates 87 lifeboats.

<Remember, some of these organizations and their volunteers give of their time without pay to help keep the oceans, lakes, and inland waterways safe and pleasurable for the recreational boating public the world over.

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