Fishing boat rescued after starting to sink – Fishupdate.com

Fishing boat rescued after starting to sink Published:  20 August, 2012

RNLI lifeboats from Redcar and Hartlepool were tasked to a fishing boat which began sinking off Redcar on Saturday 18 August 2012.

The thee-man crew, from Hartlepool,  raised the alarm at around 9.10am after their craft started taking in water about one and a half miles north of Redcar. Two lifeboats from Redcar and two from Hartlepool were launched, and an RAF Sea King helicopter was diverted from another task to assist. Dave Cocks, from Redcar RNLI, says: ‘Fortunately by the time the first Redcar lifeboat arrived a nearby fishing boat had managed to attach a tow line to the sinking boat and was making slow progress towards the  beach. ‘The crew of the sinking boat had donned lifejackets and were using their bilge pump to try and get rid of the water, but there was too much water coming in. ‘Our lifeboat crew transferred over a salvage pump, but even using that was only just keeping the water level steady.’ Once the fishing boat had been towed close to the shore at Redcar, lifeboats from Hartlepool and Redcar manoeuvred alongside and between then drove the stricken craft onto the beach. Dave Cocks adds: ‘This was a good combined effort by the fishing boat which came to assist and the lifeboats from Redcar and Hartlepool. The crew of the sinking boat had done the right thing in raising the alarm using a VHF marine radio and had put their lifejackets on’. Arrangements were made later in the morning for a trailer to be brought from Hartlepool to recover the boat from the beach.