{"id":5240,"date":"2018-12-22T18:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T17:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5240"},"modified":"2018-12-22T18:00:50","modified_gmt":"2018-12-22T17:00:50","slug":"sudden-sinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5240","title":{"rendered":"SUDDEN SINKING"},"content":{"rendered":"

SUDDEN SINKING<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At sea things can go wrong very quickly, as Barry Dock and Penarth lifeboat crews found out on 12<\/strong>th <\/strong>June <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Kath Fisher couldn\u2019t sleep. Tossing and turning, she thought: \u2018Is this an omen that something\u2019s about to happen?\u2019. At 1.15am her lifeboat pager went off.<\/p>\n

Volunteers all around Penarth and Barry Dock shook themselves awake and headed for their lifeboat stations. It was a Mayday call; an emergency at sea where life is at risk \u2013 a fishing boat, with two onboard, was taking on water at a notorious local black spot off Lavernock Point.<\/p>\n

Penarth crew were first on scene in their fast agile Atlantic 91 Class lifeboat and crew member Matt Church took a salvage pump onto the yacht to try and pump out the water before taking the yacht under tow. They\u2019d be back home in bed in no time.<\/p>\n

However luck was not on their side and the flooding quickly overwhelmed the salvage pumps capability and within a minute the yacht had sunk beneath them whilst still under tow, a very dangerous situation for the 2 fishermen, lifeboat crewman Matt and the crew of the towing lifeboat. Kath, aboard the Penarth lifeboat, quickly realised the danger and cut the tow rope enabling the lifeboat to do an immediate U turn to help the 3 people now in the water. It all happened so quickly that the two fishermen hadn\u2019t had time to inflate their lifejackets so Matt, now a casualty himself, struggled to keep himself and the two others afloat. Kath, realising the situation jumped into the sea along with fellow crew member James King to support the casualties.<\/p>\n

Within moments support thankfully arrived with the large well-equipped Barry Dock All-Weather Trent Class lifeboat \u201cInner Wheel II\u201d <\/em>along with a Coastguard Search & Rescue helicopter. Barry Dock lifeboat Coxswain Martin Bowmer immediately set off a flare illuminating the entire area supported by the massively bright helicopter searchlight. However the situation called on all his skill and experience in charge of the 18 tonne lifeboat as the three casualties had drifted into very rocky, shallow water. With only a metre of water beneath his keel in unpredictable coastline in pitch black seas he carefully used the Trent\u2019s immense engines to keep his lifeboat steady allowing his crew to safely haul colleague Matt and fishermen Jason and Andy aboard. The immediate danger had passed and all 3 were taken into the Trent lifeboat\u2019s wheelhouse to be warmed, reassured and assessed for injuries. Meanwhile Martin then turned the lifeboat around, powered up her twin diesel engines and headed back to Barry Dock to hand over the casualties to waiting Paramedics. By 2.30 am the emergency had passed enabling all the volunteer crew members to return to their stations on Penarth Esplanade and at Barry Dock respectively. After a detailed debriefing and a washing and checking of all boats and equipment both crews \u2018Stood Down\u2019 and civilian life returned with crews returning home to their much deserved beds.<\/p>\n

Thankfully both fishermen received a clean-bill of<\/p>\n

health by A&E staff.<\/p>\n

This story is testament to the skill, dedication and training of the RNLI volunteer crews and the wonderful boats and equipment of the RNLI around the entire coastline of the UK and Ireland<\/p>\n

Story summarised with kind permission of the RNLI from the \u2018Lifeboat\u2019 magazine issue 625, Autumn 2018. Credited to author Mir\u00e9ad Dane<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUDDEN SINKING   At sea things can go wrong very quickly, as Barry Dock and Penarth lifeboat crews found out on 12th June Kath Fisher couldn\u2019t sleep. Tossing and turning, she thought: \u2018Is this an omen that something\u2019s about to happen?\u2019. At 1.15am her lifeboat pager went off. Volunteers all around Penarth and Barry Dock shook themselves awake and headed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[70,127,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-1mw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5441,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5441","url_meta":{"origin":5240,"position":0},"title":"Behind-The-Scenes of the RNLI","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The story in last months WWO about our local lifeboat crews and stations was just to whet your appetites about the local RNLI. 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The Cardiff Chain Ferry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/River-Ely-Crossing-4-a.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12769,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12769","url_meta":{"origin":5240,"position":4},"title":"River Ely was Frozen","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th January 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 THURSDAY WALKERS Bert\u2019s midweek walkers\u2019 final walk (and chat!) of 2022 followed the circuit from Penarth to Cardiff Bay. It was so cold the river Ely was frozen on the surface but with glorious sunshine all the way it was refreshing and felt warm. Coffee and snacks in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Valeways Walkers"","block_context":{"text":"Valeways Walkers","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=336"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Picture8.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12855,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12855","url_meta":{"origin":5240,"position":5},"title":"Penarth With Plenty Of Sunshine","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 THURSDAY WALKERS Penarth Once again Bert managed to pick a Thursday with plenty of sunshine, though there were remnants of ice in places. Eighteen of us started from the cliff top car park. 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