The young daughters of a Fraserburgh lifeboat hero have taken part in an unusual christening ceremony in the North Sea.
Eilidh, Ailsa and Lucy Sutherland, whose dad Victor is coxswain of the town’s RNLI team, took to the waves for a special service, surrounded by friends and family.
The trio, aged 10, eight and five respectively, were baptised aboard the lifeboat Willie and May Gall about a mile out of port.
The service was carried out by Rev Peter Park of Fraserburgh Old Parish Church. An upturned lifeboat bell was used as a font during the ceremony with water from the River Jordan.
Mr Sutherland and his wife Pamela, took the girls and a small party of guests out to sea on Saturday afternoon.
The service took place just hours after Mr Sutherland was involved in a particularly tricky rescue at Sandhaven, when a speedboat with a crew of three smashed into rocks late on Friday night.
Volunteer lifeboat crewman Barry Pitchford also attended the ceremony and became the girls’ godfather. Family friend Lyne Strachan was made godmother.
A spokesman for the lifeboat station said: “Vic and Pamela’s family have a long association with the Fraserburgh lifeboat, so it was entirely fitting that their daughters were baptised onboard.”
Mr Sutherland and his brother David, now deputy coxswain, first joined the local RNLI crew more than 20 years ago. They followed in their footsteps of their father, also Victor, and their uncle Albert who were second coxswain and coxswain for many years.
Victor sen, who took over the role from his brother James, recently became operations manager at the station.
The Sutherland family’s connections with the busy lifesaving service do not end there, however. Victor sen’s wife Janet is a past president of the RNLI Ladies Guild, while Pamela is a treasurer of the Fraserburgh Lifeboat Fundraising branch. During the 1980s, her uncle Roy Brown was also coxswain of the Broch crew.
Both Victor and Janet Sutherland attended their granddaughter’s baptism, which was followed by a celebration with cake at the crew’s shoreside HQ.