Two Crew-Related Call Outs In A Week For Dunbar Volunteers
Dunbar’s lifeboat volunteers were called out for the second time in a week to a crew-related emergency when a fishing boat suffered engine failure early this morning (Monday).
The boat in trouble was the L’Ogien, whose skipper David Fairbairn is a former crew member and the father of current Dunbar coxswain Gary Fairbairn. After switching off their engine to fish at night, David and his two crew were unable to restart several hours later and were stranded one and a half miles north of Torness.
UK coastguard paged the lifeboat crew at 4.50am and shortly after 5am the all-weather lifeboat (ALB) was launched. Arriving on scene, the volunteers transferred three mechanics to see if they could fix the problem as the vessel’s generator had also failed.
A tow was set up to take the L’Ogien to Eyemouth, but one and a half miles north west of St Abbs the mechanics managed to fix the generator, allowing the battery to recharge and restart the power.
The fishing boat crew were happy to continue to Eyemouth under their own steam. The ALB dropped the tow and returned to Torness at 8am.
It was the second crew-related call out in five days.
On Thursday (August 17), Dunbar’s inshore lifeboat (ILB) was launched at 3.40pm to assist a rigid-inflatable boat (RIB) owned by crew member Alan Ross after it suffered engine failure near to the town’s harbour.
After setting up a tow the RIB was returned to the harbour and the ILB refuelled and readied for service.
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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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