The former coxswain of the Swanage Lifeboat has been handed an MBE after almost four decades of savings lives at sea.

Former coxswain Martin Steeden, travelled to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday to collect the prestigious award.

After almost forty years of service and 16 years at the helm, Mr Steeden said it was a "massive privilege" to be named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Mr Steeden, who spent some time as a lifeguard in his teens, joined the crew in 1977 after he moved to Swanage.

"I married the coxswain’s daughter, I was living in their house and lifeboats were their life, the whole family were in the crew so I found it was a natural thing to do," he said.

Mr Steeden, who is a carpenter by trade, first joined the crew as a 'launcher' - helping to get the lifeboat to sea.

He served alongside his wife, Karina’s father, Victor and brother, Ian.

"You came along and made the tea first, then you’d be on the slipway and you worked through the system," Mr Steeden said.

He recalled when he first started at the station the crew was still alerted to a shout by the firing of maroon flares, rather than the pager system used today.

"It was phenomenal. I didn’t come to this from a local background, I grew up in London. It was exciting with the maroons going up - it all happens at a lifeboat station," he said.

Over the years Mr Steeden moved up through the ranks, becoming winchman, head-launcher before eventually serving on the boat five years later.

He became coxswain of the station’s all-weather lifeboat in 2000 - a post he held for 16 years.

During his time with the Swanage lifeboat he has seen his two sons Gavin and Matthew join the crew.

Gavin is now assistant coxswain while Matthew is assistant mechanic.

"It was great, in the days before I retired I could go to sea with my kids - your life revolved around it and the longer you stayed the farther you moved up through the positions on the lifeboat," Mr Steeden said.