Two shouts and 9 hours at sea for Angle RNLI

The vessel was under tow from a tug following a grounding and salvage operation. St David’s all-weather lifeboat were on scene with their salvage pump having already been transferred onboard, and Little Haven inshore lifeboat had also attended during the evening.

Angle lifeboat made best speed to the area and arrived on scene 30 minutes later and soon had their salvage pump transferred onto the casualty vessel to assist with keeping the water ingress at bay. Both lifeboats began to escort the tow but whilst west of Skomer Island, however a change of plan, and in light of the vessel still taking water a plan was made to alter course and proceed to Broad Haven Beach with a view to beach the vessel to prevent it sinking.

The lifeboats then spent the next few hours escorting the tow and providing safety cover. Upon arrival off Broad Haven, and with the tidal state not right to beach the vessel the lifeboats stood by whilst pumping efforts continued.

At 3.15am, with the situation now improving, St David’s lifeboat was released and returned to station. Not long after at 4am, with the water ingress now under control, Angle lifeboat was subsequently stood down after the master confirmed he was content with the vessels condition.

Just over 3 hours before at 5.30pm, the crew were paged to assist a 10m pleasure vessel that had suffered electrical failure off the VPOT oil terminal on the Milford Haven waterway.

As the crew were already at station preparing to launch on exercise, the crew were soon underway and with the casualty vessel not long after. Following an assessment of the situation by the Coxswain, due to the location of angling vessel being a navigational hazard to other vessels, the safest option was to tow the vessel to the nearest safe place.

A tow was rigged and the vessel was soon underway towards Neyland Marina. Once off the entrance to the marina, the vessel was transferred into an alongside tow and placed safely alongside a pontoon within the marina.

With no further assistance required the lifeboat was stood down and the crew returned to their usual Wednesday night exercise.

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The RNLI is the charity that 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 146,700 lives.

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