Barrow Lifeboats Respond to late night Mayday call
Volunteer crew from Barrow’s Lifeboat Station launched both of their lifeboats late last night in response to a Mayday call received from a vessel in Walney Channel.
The request for an immediate launch came from HM Coastguard in Holyhead at 10-10pm. The information received was that a yacht in Walney Channel, close to Piel Island, had experienced engine trouble and the vessel’s tender, a small dinghy with one man on board, had broken free and was reported to be drifting out into Morecambe Bay. The crew was paged and the inshore lifeboat, ‘Vision of Tamworth’ was launched at 10-20pm and began a search of the area. The all-weather lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’ was then launched a short time later and both boats conducted an extensive search based on information being relayed to the Coastguard by the people on board the yacht and the man in the dinghy.
Flares were fired from the lifeboats and by local Coastguard units who were also in attendance, in order to illuminate the search area. At around 11-00pm, the casualty reported that he had drifted to the shore and was now on solid ground, but he was unsure of his exact position. At 11-20pm the crew of the ‘Vision of Tamworth’ radioed to say that they had located the casualty at the southern end of Foulney Island. At 11-35pm the casualty, who was uninjured, and his dinghy were returned safely back to the yacht.
It then transpired that the original problem experienced by the yacht was caused by a rope fouling it’s propeller and in order to ensure that the yacht was left in a safe condition for the night it was secured to a mooring just east of Piel Island.
At 1-00am this morning, after two call-outs in under twelve hours, the lifeboats returned to the lifeboat station at Roa Island where they were cleaned and made ready for the next launch.
The wind at the time of the incident was north-westerly, Force 4-5, and the high tide was at 0-56am with a height of 9.1 metres.
Key facts about the RNLI
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.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.