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Evening shout sees Yarmouth RNLI tasked to 80-ton fishing trawler

Lifeboats News Release

On Tuesday 3 September, Yarmouth RNLI crews were paged by HM Coastguard to the reports of a large fishing trawler in difficulty two nautical miles southwest of the Needles Lighthouse.

Yarmouth Severn class lifeboat Eric and Susan Hiscock (Wanderer) 17-25 at sea during the tasking – taken from the ships cam

RNLI/Hebe Gregory

Yarmouth Severn class lifeboat Eric and Susan Hiscock (Wanderer) 17-25 at sea during the tasking – taken from the ships cam

Yarmouth RNLI and her volunteer crew launched at 8:40pm and navigated straight towards the Needles Lighthouse to aid a 12 meter, 80-ton fishing trawler who had occurred engine trouble when it had fouled its props and rudders with its fishing nets and had started drifting east towards the coast.

Yarmouth Lifeboat arrived on scene just after 9pm where the crew then assessed the trawler being careful as they approached as the casualty vessel's gear was still submerged in the water.

It was decided that the safest course of action would be to slowly tow the heavy vessel back to Yarmouth, taking extra care through the force three south westerly winds, especially as they entered Yarmouth Harbour, where the vessel would then wait until morning to assess the sustained damaged.

Yarmouth Lifeboat arrived back at her berth at quarter past midnight, and a short ten minutes later was marked as ready for service.

If you’re interested in a volunteering opportunity at Yarmouth Lifeboat Station, please email [email protected]

Notes to editors

  • Photo attached - Yarmouth Severn class lifeboat Eric and Susan Hiscock (Wanderer) 17-25 at sea during the tasking – taken from the ships camera.
  • Yarmouth RNLI Lifeboat 17-25 Eric and Susan Hiscock ‘Wanderer’ came into service in 2001, prior to that Yarmouth RNLI had an Arun Class Lifeboat 52-08 Joy and John Wade which was in service for 23 years.
  • As well as 2024 being the year the RNLI celebrates its 200th year, it will also be Yarmouth Station's 100th year in service.

RNLI contact details:

● Hebe Gregory, Yarmouth RNLI Lifeboat Press Officer [email protected]

●Hatti Mellor, Regional Communications Manager (South East & London) [email protected]

● Julie Rainey, Regional Communications Lead (South East) [email protected]

For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789

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.

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For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter 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.

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