Barrow Lifeboat Answers Fishing Vessel’s Mayday Call
The RNLI’s volunteer crew from Barrow Lifeboat Station launched their all-weather lifeboat late yesterday evening to go to the aid of a fishing vessel in the Irish Sea which had issued a Mayday alert.
The call for assistance came through from the regional HM Coastguard base in Holyhead at 9-50pm on Sunday evening. The lifeboat was tasked with attending to a 16-metre fishing vessel which was taking on water and which had issued a “Mayday” call, the internationally recognised distress signal.
The crew was paged and the all-weather lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’, was launched at 10-00pm under the command of Coxswain, Shaun Charnley, assisted by a crew of six. The casualty vessel, ‘Lady Helen’, was located at a position 30 miles west of Barrow and the ‘Grace Dixon’ arrived on scene at 11-15pm. In the meantime, the lifeboat from Douglas, Isle of Man, had also been requested to attend along with the Coastguard helicopter, Rescue 936 from Caernarfon.
Another vessel nearby, ‘Fairline Surveyor’, managed to take the five crew members off the casualty vessel to ensure they were safe. A sister vessel to the ‘Lady Helen’, the ‘Anne Mary B’, had also sailed from Fleetwood to go and assist. The Barrow and Douglas lifeboats assessed the condition of the casualty, and it was agreed that the ‘Anne Mary B’ could take the ‘Lady Helen’ under tow back to Fleetwood. The Barrow lifeboat then transferred the rescued crew members from the ‘Fairline Surveyor’ and at 1-57am they were in turn transferred to the ‘Anne Mary B’.
The Barrow lifeboat was stood down shortly after 2-00am and it returned to the Roa Island Boathouse at 3-20am where it was rehoused by the waiting shore crew and washed down in preparation for the next launch.
The weather at the time of the incident was misty and the wind was easterly, Force 2 and the sea state was slight. The high tide was at 8-53pm with a height of 8.0 metres.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.