RNLI Douglas lifeboat called out to assist Coastguard in dog rescue
RNLI Douglas lifeboat volunteer crew were paged at 6.12pm today (17 July) to assist the Coastguards rescue a dog that had gone over a cliff near Port Grenaugh.
The RNLI all-weather lifeboat Sir William Hillary was launched under the command of volunteer Coxswain Neal Corran. Arriving in the vicinity of Port Grenaugh the Coastguard advised that they had recovered the dog and returned it to its anxious owner. However there was also a sheep down on the rocks which they had secured in a net bag but which they were unable to retrieve and asked for the lifeboat's assistance.
With the lifeboat unable to get close enough to the bottom of the cliff volunteer crewmen Peter Cowin and Donald Bottomley used the lifeboat’s daughter boat, an inflatable dinghy, to go ashore to recover the sheep. Having got the sheep into the dinghy they returned to the lifeboat and were taken under tow to the beach a Port Grenaugh where the farmer who's sheep it was was waiting.
With the sheep having been safely returned to its owner the lifeboat recovered their dinghy and its crewmen and returned to Douglas to be re-housed and made ready again for service.
Notes to editors
Caption for one attached photo: Douglas lifeboat's dinghy with crew and sheep under tow.
RNLI media contacts
For more information please contact Michael Howland, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on 07624 496029 or email [email protected] or Eleri Roberts, Divisional Media Relations Manager (Wales and West) on 07771 941390 or 01745 585162. Alternatively contact RNLI Public Relations on 01202 336789.
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 146,000 lives.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok 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.