"Reegan was the first fisherman I’ve taken out of the water who was conscious and alive, but he was also the first fisherman I took out of the water wearing a lifejacket"

‘I’ve been doing search and rescue for nearly 20 years and Reegan was the first fisherman I’ve taken out of the water who was conscious and alive, but he was also the first fisherman I took out of the water wearing a lifejacket.’

These are the powerful words of Coastguard Winchman ‘Spike’ Hughes who lifted Reegan Green out of the water when he was washed overboard in treacherous conditions nearly two weeks ago.

HM Coastguard Newquay helicopter crew, Capt Sharky Finn, Capt Jörg "Yogi" Brunner, Winch Operator Phil Warrington and Winchman Mark ‘Spike’ Hughes met fisherman Reegan Green for the first time after his dramatic rescue off the Salcombe coast.

Spike went on to say: ‘The sea state was pretty big that night – about 20ft with 70 knot winds, so it was quite a horrific night. It’s the type of night you don’t want to be going outside in. I saw Reegan looking at me from the water - I could see the whites of his eyes and he could see the whites of mine and that was a good moment. By then I was only a matter of feet away and within about two minutes the rescue was complete. It’s really, really good to see him here today, having an outcome such as this is absolutely fantastic.’

You can read more about Reegan's dramatic rescue here:

Fisherman wearing a lifejacket rescued alive from very rough seas after falling overboard.

A fisherman who went overboard off the coast of Salcombe earlier this morning has been rescued by the HM Coastguard Newquay helicopter after being in very rough seas for an hour.

HM Coastguard was coordinating the large scale search and rescue mission for the missing fisherman who went overboard 25nm south east of Salcombe.

The fishing vessel made a Mayday broadcast minutes before 4.45am today and the HM search and rescue helicopter based at Newquay quickly made their way sent to the scene, alongside Salcombe and Torbay RNLI All Weather Lifeboats.

A French Navy aircraft who has been training in the area at the time and a number of fishing vessels responded to a Mayday Relay broadcast issued by HM Coastguard and also joined the search.

The fisherman was located by his own crewmates at 5.45am and the Newquay Coastguard helicopter was alerted to his position and winched him from the water. He had been in the water for an hour in 3-4m seas and 9 degrees sea temperature and was suffering from the cold.

The Newquay Coastguard helicopter flew him directly to Plymouth Hospital.

HM Coastguard Duty Controller Dai Jones said: ‘We could not have hoped for a better outcome. Our own Coastguard helicopter, A French Navy helicopter, along with a number of fishing vessels and the RNLI, had been searching for an hour this morning in very rough seas and challenging weather conditions. Thankfully, the fisherman was wearing a lifejacket, which no doubt aided his survival and enabled his crewmates to find him quickly.

‘By taking this simple safety precaution means that when he fell into the water his survival time increased significantly, despite the cold water and the horrendous weather conditions.

‘This could have been a very different outcome today had he not been wearing his lifejacket and we commend his actions, which have assisted in saving his life. We wish him a speedy recovery.’

Speaking after today’s dramatic rescue, Captain Jörg Brunner from HM Coastguard Newquay helicopter said: ‘This is an incredible rescue story. We got the call to help just 5 minutes after the fisherman had fallen overboard. Despite horrendous weather conditions on scene with winds in excess of 60 knots, we were preparing ourselves for an extensive search and rescue operation. The fishing crew had done all the right things and even from a distance we quickly spotted the smoke marker and the life ring they had released.

‘The fisherman was spotted by his crew about 40m on the starboard side of his fishing vessel, some 400m away from smoke marker position.

‘We flew towards that position and saw the casualty immediately as he was wearing a reflective life jacket.

‘We lowered our winchman into the water in very rough conditions and conducted a double winch recovery which only took about 2 minutes.

‘Once on board we flew straight to Derriford Hospital and handed him over to A&E department, where we have now heard that he’s doing well and in good spirits.’

Fisherman wearing a lifejacket rescued alive from very rough seas after falling overboard from a Brixham beam trawler.

A fisherman who went overboard off the coast of Salcombe earlier this morning has been rescued by the HM Coastguard Newquay helicopter after being in very rough seas for an hour.  HM Coastguard was coordinating the large scale search and rescue mission for the missing fisherman who went overboard 25nm south east of Salcombe.

The fishing vessel made a Mayday broadcast minutes before 4.45am today and the HM search and rescue helicopter based at Newquay quickly made their way sent to the scene, alongside Salcombe and Torbay RNLI All Weather Lifeboats.  

A French Navy aircraft who has been training in the area at the time and a number of fishing vessels responded to a Mayday Relay broadcast issued by HM Coastguard and also joined the search.

The fisherman was located by his own crewmates at 5.45am and the Newquay Coastguard helicopter was alerted to his position and winched him from the water.  He had been in the water for an hour in 3-4m seas and 9 degrees sea temperature and was suffering from the cold.The Newquay Coastguard helicopter flew him directly to Plymouth Hospital.

HM Coastguard Duty Controller Dai Jones said: ‘We could not have hoped for a better outcome.  Our own Coastguard helicopter, A French Navy helicopter, along with a number of fishing vessels and the RNLI, had been searching for an hour this morning in very rough seas and challenging weather conditions.  Thankfully, the fisherman was wearing a lifejacket, which no doubt aided his survival and enabled his crewmates to find him quickly.  

‘By taking this simple safety precaution means that when he fell into the water his survival time increased significantly, despite the cold water and the horrendous weather conditions.   

‘This could have been a very different outcome today had he not been wearing his lifejacket and we commend his actions, which have assisted in saving his life.  We wish him a speedy recovery.’  

Speaking after today’s dramatic rescue, Captain Jörg Brunner from HM Coastguard Newquay helicopter said:  ‘This is an incredible rescue story.  We got the call to help just 5 minutes after the  fisherman had fallen overboard.  Despite horrendous weather conditions on scene with winds in excess of 60 knots, we were preparing ourselves for an extensive search and rescue operation.  The fishing crew had done all the right things and even from a distance we quickly spotted the smoke marker and the life ring they had released.

‘The fisherman was spotted by his crew about 40m on the starboard side of his fishing vessel, some 400m away from smoke marker position. ‘We flew towards that position and saw the casualty immediately as he was wearing a reflective life jacket. ‘We lowered our winchman into the water in very rough conditions and conducted a double winch recovery which only took about 2 minutes. ‘Once on board we flew straight to Derriford Hospital and handed him over to A&E department, where we have now heard that he’s doing well and in good spirits.’

UK Coastguard helicopter flies 100 miles just inside French waters to evacuate unwell crewman from Newlyn beam trawler, Resurgam PZ1001

While most of us were still asleep this morning, a blast of cold sea air was being felt by UK Coastguard Paramedic Winchman Niall Hanson as he was winched onto a UK fishing vessel 100 nautical miles south of Newquay to assist an unwell crewman.

Co-ordinated by the UK Coastguard Operations Centre at Falmouth, the Newquay search and rescue helicopter flew over rough seas and just inside French waters to evacuate the sick crewman from the UK vessel. The crewman was airlifted to Treliske Hospital by the helicopter crew of Captain Mark Coupland, Co-Pilot ‘Sharky’ Finn, Paramedic Winch Operator Jason Bibby and Paramedic Winchman Niall Hanson. His condition was not thought to be life-threatening and we wish him a speedy recovery.

The footage was filmed by the helicopter team.

Clearly visible in the video during the rescue, both beam trawls are suspended from the end of the derricks to help stabilise the boat and reduce the degree of roll while the skipper steams at full speed just off the wind. This helps reduce any dramatic variations in movement which, given the proximity of the stern mast to the high-line can only make the operation safer. Notice how the winchman applies opposite pressure to the high-line as the winch reels in the diver and casualty to minimise the sway.

All skippers know the correct procedure for such an incident, so in all likelihood the only contact between the boat and the rescue helicopter would have been when the navigator calls the skipper of the boat and reminds him to "please maintain your present course and speed" - the height of a professional operation for which the fishing community of the UK can only be ever grateful.

3 fishermen airlifted from beam trawler off the Lizard

UK Coastguard received a mayday broadcast just before 1pm yesterday (2nd February) from a fishing vessel that caught fire with five crew on board, approximately 37 nautical miles off Newlyn, Cornwall.

The fire, believed to have be in the engine room, was extinguished by the crew, but several members were reported to be suffering from smoke inhalation.

The Coastguard search and rescue helicopter based at Newquay and the Lizard RNLI lifeboat was sent to the fishing vessel. Three of the crew were winched off the fishing vessel onto the helicopter and transferred to hospital.

The fishing vessel, with the remaining crew, was able to make its own way to Newlyn, the Lizard RNLI lifeboat escorted the fishing vessel to ensure it arrived safely.

Steve Mann, UK Coastguard, said: "Fortunately the crew were able to extinguish the fire, they were also able to contact the Coastguard when they needed assistance. This is another example why it is so important to make sure that you have appropriate safety equipment on board and several means of contacting the Coastguard if the worst should happen. "

Classic sailing vessel Astrid goes ashore in Ireland

Only a few day's ago the sailing vessel Astrid was safely anchored off Penzance before making her way later that evening to Cork on Ireland...

where she left earlier today bound for Kinsale...

luckily all hands were taken of safely by the Kinsale lifeboat after she ran aground under cliffs. Pictures show the vessels sails were all furled at the time of the accident in strong south westerly winds and a 4 metre swell....

Thirty people have been rescued after their tall ship hit rocks and sunk off the south coast of Ireland. The Astrid suffered engine failure near Kinsale Harbour and was blown onto the rocks by strong winds. A major emergency operation took place involving the RNLI and coastguard just after midday. 

The Astrid was one of 50 vessels taking part in a flotilla-style five mile journey from Oysterhaven to Kinsale as part of Ireland's 2013 Gathering initiative -- a tourism bid to encourage the diaspora to return to their homeland on holiday. 

This video shows the dramatic moments the Astrid hit the rocks, the subsequent rescue and interviews. Video by Nautical Channel.

Sennen lifeboat goes out on a shout to the stricken netter Sparkling Line after a fire in her engine room

Throwing across the heaving line...

coming down through a busy shipping lane...

Starting motor engaged and caught fire - good job we wasn't too far away!...

who needs an engine to run the hydraulics when you got a crew like this!

CONFIRMED position of the Chloe T

View Fishing and other Vessel incidents in a larger map

Confirmed POSITION
49°58,67N - 003°45,06W

Any trawlers fishing south of Plymouth will need to know the exact latitude and longitude readings for the beam trawler Chloe T  that sank earlier this week.

Penlee lifeboat takes off Injured seaman in thick fog off Land's End.

The volunteer crew of the Penlee RNLI all-weather lifeboat launched to an injured seaman onboard a 230 metre oil tanker in thick fog off Newlyn yesterday afternoon. 


The seaman had suffered a serious hand injury when a heavy hatch had fallen on it and needed immediate medical treatment. The volunteer crew at Penlee launched the all-weather lifeboat Ivan Ellen in thick fog conditions at 3.25pm to head to the oil tanker’s location 25 miles south of Newlyn, arriving alongside the tanker at 4.20pm. 


Patrick Harvey, Penlee RNLI Coxswain said ‘It was quite a tricky journey out to the tanker through the fog. The crew were watching closely for other vessels, which despite seeming to be some distance off, when you are travelling at such speeds, are quickly in your path and we had to change course a couple of times. "Once at the tanker, the casualty, helped by his fellow crew members, was lowered down on steps to the lifeboat. "Because the tanker was still moving at about six knots and rolling slightly, we had to be careful to get close enough to grab the casualty without damaging the lifeboat and this took a couple of attempts." 


The casualty was taken back to the lifeboat station at Newlyn where a road ambulance took him to Truro hospital.

Matthew Southgate says - thank you.

"As a member of the crew taking part in the Fastnet Race and onboard the yacht Inseyarnda we would like to say a big thank you to the crews of St Ives, Sennen Cove and Penlee RNLI life boats.

A big thank you for the warm welcome Newlyn Harbour and the help getting the mast off and on to the fishing pontoon with the crane"

Matthew Southgate

I'm sure all those hands involved appreciate your thanks Matthew.

Karin Sheper runs aground east of Pendeen Lighthouse.

SHIP REFLOATS AFTER RUNNING AGROUND ON BEACH IN CORNWALL

Sennen Cove RNLI respond to ship aground north east of Pendeen lighthouse

The volunteer crew of the Sennen Cove RNLI all-weather lifeboat were launched this morning (Wednesday 3 August) after a ship went aground. The 9000 ton container vessel went ashore in a sandy cove. There were 13 people onboard. The ships company managed to drive astern and get the vessel off.
 

The Karin Scheper's route from Cork, including her brief stop off Pendeen Light in the early ours of Wednesday morning.

Close up look at where she ended up briefly on the sand banks near Pendeen, virtually the only sand between St Ives and Sennen - they were SO lucky!

At 04.30am, Falmouth Coastguard noted on their Automatic Identification system that the vessel was not using the traffic separation scheme correctly. All attempts were made to call the vessel by all means but the vessel went aground in the area of Cape Cornwall


The ship had run aground on a beach at Cape Cornwall. Falmouth Coastguard called out the St Ives Coastguard rescue team and North Cornwall sector manager and requested police attendance. The Coastguard tug Anglian Princess was repositioned in case it was required and the St Ives and Sennen Cove lifeboats were requested to launch a rescue helicopter R193 was also scrambled.

Subsequently Falmouth Coastguard received a call 2 hours later from the master of the vessel reporting that he had managed to refloat the vessel after moving ballast water and using his engines to get the vessel off where she had beached.
The vessel was carrying a cargo of containers and has 13 crew on board.

The vessel is now continuing on passage to Rotterdam under its own power and all units have now been stood down. There has been no damage to the vessel, no pollution and no injuries to any of the crew.

Steve Huxley, Duty Area officer, Falmouth Coastguard said:This has been a very fast moving scenario where this container vessel run aground on beach and with the rising tide and the master has managed to refloat the ship. It is now proceeding on its passage.

BBC online news report.

Falmouth Coastguard coordinates rescue of Dutch yacht crew off Isles of Scilly

Two Dutch crew from a yacht have been rescued in gale force conditions overnight, 75 miles South West of the Isles Of Scilly.

At 8.20pm on Thursday Falmouth Coastguard received an EPIRB (Emergency Positioning Radio Beacon) distress alert located 75 miles South West of the Isles Of Scilly, which they determined was registered to a Swedish 36 foot yacht called Andriette. 

Falmouth Coastguard contacted merchant vessels in the area and a message was relayed from another yacht which had encountered the Andriette on Wednesday and reported that she had suffered some damage but had continued on her passage from the Azores to Malmo in Sweden.

The Rescue Helicopter from RNAS Culdrose located the damaged yacht at 10.40pm which was without steering, lying stern to the wind in heavy seas. With winching over the deck impossible in the conditions, the two men on board had to abandon to their liferaft.  The winchman retrieved one man from the liferaft but the liferaft capsized and on returning for the second man, both winchman and crewman were out of sight in the water beneath the upturned raft.  Thankfully, when the liferaft righted itself the winchman had located the man in the water and both were winched back to the safety of the helicopter.

The two men are Dutch nationals aged 41 and 54. They were cold and wet after their ordeal but uninjured and have been transferred to Falmouth.  Falmouth Coastguard Watch Manager Peter Bullard said, "The conditions for the helicopter rescue crew were extremely challenging with gale force winds, rough seas and darkness.  The three merchant vessels which responded to us helped with communications and were always an option for rescue.  However, transfer either to helicopter or a vessel would always be difficult under these conditions.

Rescue story courtesy of BYM

Crew airlifted from fishing boat Ben My Chree off Land's End.

Gill-netter Ben My Chree leaving Newlyn.

The last recorded AIS position of the Ben My Chree off Land's End before power was lost.

At 00.27 am Falmouth Coastguard received a Mayday distress call from the fishing vessel Ben My Chree with five crew onboard. Their distress call reported that they were taking water and sinking 17 nautical miles East North East of the Isles of Scilly. Falmouth Coastguard immediately broadcast a Mayday relay, and requested the scramble of Rescue Helicopter R193 and St Marys All Weather Lifeboat. Another Newlyn registered fishing vessel CKS responded to the broadcast and proceeded from 7nm away at best speed. The wind was a force 5 from the west south west with a moderate to rough sea.

Once on scene R193 attempted to lower the Coastguard pump down onto the vessel but this proved impossible due to the weather conditions. The water level in the vessel was still rising and the crew were getting very concerned, so R193 winched four, including skipper Steve Hicks off the vessel. Crewman Jamie Vickar was the last to leave and even though he had knocked the engine out of gear when he left the wheel house the vessel continued to proceed in a very erratic manner due to the mizzen sail being set. This meant that R193 could not winch him off so he was taken off onto the St Marys Lifeboat and from there winched to R193. All five crew were then transferred to Culdrose where they were met by a few members of the Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team who transported them back to their homes in Newlyn.

The CKS was released to continue and the St Marys lifeboat stood alongside the Ben My Chree until first light. As the night progressed the Ben My Chree sank lower in the water, the engine stopped, its AIS ceased to transmit and its navigation lights went out. As the vessel was drifting across the Lands End Traffic Separation scheme Falmouth Coastguard made a Security Broadcast to all vessels in the area to be aware and to keep a sharp lookout and a wide berth.

The area between Land's End and the Scillys has a very busy traffic separation scheme in place, at the moment there is a concentration of French trawlers working just to the south of the incident.

Marc Thomas, Watch Manager, Falmouth Coastguard said:

"The crew of the Ben My Chree were calm and professional in a very uncertain situation and the skipper passed all the necessary information to ensure a swift rescue. The crew of R193 tried repeatedly to lower the Coastguard pump onboard but were unable to do so, but they managed to recover four of the crew off the fishing vessel in challenging conditions."

Courtesy of Fred Caygill at the MCA.