St Ives volunteer lifeboat crew launch twice in twelve hours in gale force winds

The pagers sounded at 7.24am on Sunday 18 March, Falmouth Coastguard had requested the launch of the St.Ives all weather lifeboat Nora. The casualty was the 23ft fishing vessel Cosmos Mariner which had suffered engine failure, but had managed to drop anchor half a mile north of Portreath.

The lifeboat launched at 7.39am under the command of deputy second coxswain Robin Langford and proceeded to the casualty’s location. There was a north easterly force 6 to 7 wind blowing and a 6 to 7ft swell running, making the sea state “a tad choppy”.

Once the lifeboat arrived on scene they checked the skipper and vessel were safe and then proceeded to check the conditions at the entrance to Portreath harbour. The swell and ebbing tide made the entrance to the harbour too risky to navigate, so the safest option was to tow the vessel back to St.Ives harbour.

Twelve hours later the pagers sounded again.

This time it was the inshore lifeboat that was required and was launched at 7.23pm under the command of George Deacon. Fishermen were reported to be in difficulty in the harbour after a boat had broken free from its moorings. The fishermen were located aboard another vessel and were transferred ashore.

Notes to Editor

Picture and caption attached.

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