Welcome to the NCI Living History Website

The NCI Living History website is the story of National Coastwatch from its conception to the present day.

The site is designed to record and make available the history of our charity and its individual stations, and we invite you to play a part in helping us tell our story. 

If you have photographs, documents or stories to tell us about the National Coastwatch, please share them with us by uploading them to the site. Just Click the yellow Upload button (you’ll see it on every page) and follow the simple instructions, and together we can ensure that the NCI’s role in helping to save lives at sea and around our coastline is recorded for future generations.

You can also use the Take a Photo button (that’s on every page too!) and use the site to take and upload a photo anytime you’re walking near one of our lookout stations. Currently (2024) we have 60 stations, most of which you will be able to visit now that we are no longer restricted by the Covid pandemic.

Our story starts with the first National Coastwatch Station which opened at Bass Point in Cornwall in 1994. Click here to learn more.

National Coastwatch can only continue to help save lives around our coastline with your support. To donate £5 now please text EYES to 70450

  • We spot, plot and report incidents, and support our SAR colleagues
  • We keep a visual watch along UK shores
  • We train our volunteers to a high standard
  • Our lookouts are open summer and winter during daylight hours