Fishing vessel in trouble interupts wedding preperations in Aith
The UK's most northerly lifeboat was called out today to assist a whitefish trawler taking on water near Foula.
The local 26 metre trawler raised the alarm when water levels began rising in her engine room, around half a mile to the east of the island of Foula.
The crew of six RNLI volunteers left Aith by 0710, and - reaching the scene by 0820 - found the fishermen onboard had managed to halt the flooding and were undertaking a repair. They had also put down a trawl door to act as an achor, and prevent them drifting any closer to Foula's shore.
Aith's Severn-class lifeboat - the Charles Lidbury - was asked to remain around the area on standby, and offered engineering assistence, extra tools and additional pumps as a welding job was undertaken onboard.
Waiting on standby, and in consultation with the Maritime and Costguard Agency, the lifeboat made a brief stop in the nearby harbour at Walls in order to put a crewman ashore who had 'married man' duties to undertake at a local wedding with strong RNLI connections (more on that to follow!)
When the incident was resolved, and the fishing vessel was safely underway once more, the lifeboat crew returned to Aith by 1730. Swapping their yellow boots for their best dancing shoes, and hoping they would still be able to boogie following a 10+ hour call out, they were in good time to attend the evening reception of the wedding of thier crew mate Chris 'Kiffy' Smith.
Everyone at the Aith Lifeboat would like to wish crew member Chris and his new wife Susan - the daughter of another crew member, David - all the best on their happy day.
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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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