
Port Talbot RNLI launched to vessel seen washing onto beach
Port Talbot RNLI lifeboat crew spend three hours at sea securing a drifting vessel seen being washed onto Morfa.
The station's inshore lifeboat was launched at 10.25pm on Saturday night (10 September) after security staff from Tata Steel reported to HM Coastguard that there was a small boat bumping about in the surf on Morfa Beach.
The reports were that there was no sign of any persons on or near the boat, a 23ft yacht.
The lifeboat was launched and was on scene shortly after. The volunteer crew checked the boat and found the wheelhouse door locked and the parted remains of mooring ropes on the forward bollard.
Despite the choppy conditions the crew managed to manoeuvre the lifeboat close enough to the empty boat to take it in tow. They towed it into Monkstone Marina, where it was moored.
The lifeboat was then stood down and returned to station at 1.30am on Sunday (11 September).
On Monday it was discovered that the boat had broken its moorings in The Mumbles and its grateful owner had been reunited with it.
Notes to editors:
The attached picture shows Porthcawl RNLI's inshore lifeboat. Credit RNLI
For more information contact Mel Cooper, Port Talbot Lifeboat Press Officer on 07814 985057.
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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.
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