Gorleston Lifeboat assists Happisburgh with Sunseeker cruiser taking on water
Gorleston Lifeboat Samarbeta was launched at 5.19pm on Friday 30 August by HM Coastguard to assist Happisburgh RNLI with an escort into Great Yarmouth.
Happisburgh Lifeboat had been paged earlier in the evening to reports of a Sunseeker cruiser taking on water off Happisburgh with 3 persons onboard.
They put a crew person on board along with a salvage pump; the pump had cleared the water out and the Happisburgh crew member could not find any further water ingress from the hull or engines. The decision was made to escort the casualty vessel to Great Yarmouth Town Hall Quays casualty berth.
Gorleston’s ‘Samarbeta’ carried out a rendezvous with Happisburgh where both lifeboats escorted the casualty vessel into Great Yarmouth.
On approach to the casualty berth the casualty cruiser's engines stalled meaning they no longer had power.
They began drifting quickly towards Haven Bridge and to an oncoming vessel. The quick actions of the skipper throwing a line to Gorleston Lifeboat managed to prevent them from being swept under Haven Bridge where the outcome could have been very different.
Coxswain/Mechanic Paddy Lee said ‘The casualty vessel was extremely lucky to have managed to get a line over to the all-weather lifeboat as quickly as they did, as they were seconds away from disaster where loss of life would have been probable. Luckily the quick actions of the skipper on the casualty vessel and the volunteer lifeboat crew meant we could secure the vessel just in time. I would like to thank my crew for their quick reactions to the situation - a job well done and thanks to Happisburgh also’.
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