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Saturday 14 December 2013

Joy of Ladram in stormy rescue towed in by Lizard and Penlee lifeboats



Dramatic video footage has been released of an operation in which lifeboat crews worked in darkness to rescue the crew of a broken down fishing boat. The volunteers from The Lizard and Penlee stations worked together in difficult conditions to tow the 20-metre Joy of Ladram to safety. ​

The vessel, which was struck by a gear box failure, was first helped by The Lizard RNLI 33 miles due south of Lizard Point on Thursday. The rescuers responded to their pagers at 4.15pm and by 5.45pm were on scene onboard the Tamar class all-weather lifeboat Rose and started to tow the Newlyn-based gill netter. An RNLI spokesman said the conditions were demanding with a southerly wind of force six to seven and a "big, lumpy sea". 

The team from Penlee lifeboat station, onboard the Severn class all-weather lifeboat Ivan Ellen then launched at 9pm, meeting up with The Lizard lifeboat just after 10pm four miles South West of Lizard Point. The tow was transferred and the Penlee team, which arrived back at its home port of Newlyn at 1am.

Patch Harvey, RNLI coxswain at Penlee lifeboat station, said: "Both lifeboat teams did a good job in tricky conditions. "The big lumpy sea and strong winds made it really uncomfortable getting to the point where we met up with The Lizard lifeboat, but between us we were able to assist the fishing vessel and the five crew onboard, and get them safely in to port for repairs. "It was a good call by Falmouth coastguard to call The Lizard out to start the tow and then for us to take her in to our home port and it meant the volunteer crews could share the work and the time spent at sea overnight."

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