Barrow RNLI Lifeboats called to assist fishing vessel west of Walney Island
Volunteer crew from the RNLI’s Barrow station launched their All-Weather lifeboat late last night, Sunday 1st July 2018, to go to the aid of a fishing boat which had broken down off the west side of Walney Island.
The call for assistance came from HM Coastguard at Holyhead at 11-10pm. The information received was that a 25-foot (7.6 metres) fishing boat, with two people on board, had lost engine power at a position off the west side of Walney Island. The crew was paged and the all-weather lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’, was launched at 11-30pm under the command of Coxswain, Shaun Charnley, assisted by six crew members.
The lifeboat headed towards the west side of Walney Island and was at the scene of the incident at 11-53pm. The casualty vessel was taken under tow by the lifeboat and brought back to Walney Channel. The Inshore Lifeboat, ‘Vision of Tamworth’ was then launched at 0-50am (Monday) with Andy Baxter at the helm, assisted by two crew. The ‘Vision of Tamworth’ took over the tow in order for the casualty to be returned to its mooring north of Jubilee Bridge.
With the casualty vessel and its crew safe, the ‘Grace Dixon’ and ‘Vision of Tamworth’ returned to the lifeboat station at 1-55am where they were made ready for the next launch.
The wind at the time of the incident was easterly, Force 2, and the high tide was due at 2-27am with a height of 8.6 metres.
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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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