Fishing vessel, Heather Anne lost off Mevagissey.

Heather Ann - photo courtesy of Martin Johns.

Two men were rescued from the water last night around 11pm off Mevagissey by Falmouth lifeboat, after transferring from local fishing boat Lauren Kate before an SAR helicopter flew one man to Treliske Hospital, where he later died.


The ring netter, Heather Anne normally fishes for Cornish Sardines and had already landed one haul earlier in the evening when she went back out for another shot.


The incident happened at the same time as BBC1 was showing a repeat of the documentary programme made five years ago to commemorate the loss of the Penlee lifeboat in 1991. Thirty nine minutes and 25 seconds into the programme you can hear lifeboat cox'n Trevelyan Richards begin what was to be his last VHF radio conversation with Falmouth Coastguard - in the recorded soundtrack that follows, you can sense from the coastguard's tone that he knows he isn't going to hear that particular voice again.


Ring netting involves a huge net that encircles a shoal of fish as seen in this short video of three boats working just outside Newlyn Harbour in Mount's Bay for sardines.