TWO lives on the ocean waves were remembered yesterday as an historic lifeboat was unveiled.

Ron Dixon, 91, and Dave Phillipson helped save dozens of lives in the Sir James Knott, off the east Cleveland coast.

Yesterday, the two friends were guests of honour at a special nostalgia afternoon at Kirkleatham Hall Museum, near Redcar, where the boat - recovered from a Welsh boatyard - was displayed for the day.

Mr Dixon, a lifeboatman for 42 years and cox from 1964 to 1973, the last year aboard the Sir James Knott, said he was pleased to take part in the event which commemorates the 30th anniversary of the lifeboat's arrival in Redcar.

Mr Phillipson, a lifeboatman for 25 years and former crewman on the lifeboat, is now Kirkleatham's photographic technician and has organised a sideshow featuring images of the lifeboat from 1977 to 1986.

The slides were all taken by Mr Phillipson's partner, Jane Foreman, as she watched him set off during the boat's 13 years of service, when it was launched 78 times, saving 63 lives.

It was Mr Phillipson's initiative that rescued the Sir James Knott from a yard in Bangor, North Wales, as it awaited disposal following the end of its service in 1985.

Mr Dixon said: "It did a lot of work in the years I had it. Nobody lost their lives and the people we did save were very pleased we were there!"

The world's oldest surviving lifeboat, the 200-year-old Zetland, is in its own seafront museum in Redcar.