Coastguards were made aware of the vessel’s predicament by a friend who called 999 after speaking to the crew of the fishing boat on a CB radio as they could not obtain a mobile phone signal and had lost their handheld VHF radio over the side in their panic.
Coastguard Officers based at Humber Coastguard Marine Rescue Coordination Centre paged the RNLI lifeboat’s crew direct at 14:52 on Wednesday February 4th to request the immediate launch of the station’s Atlantic 85 lifeboat, ‘Wolseley’. The lifeboat was directed to the stricken fishing boat, Sandra May, which was located 1.5 miles east of Camel Island just north of Marsden Grotto.
The boat and its unharmed crew [3 men] were then taken in tow and returned to their mooring at the Ropery at Deptford.
Ian Rowan, Helmsman at Sunderland RNLI said: “This was a job that the crew train for regularly as with the best will and maintenance boats and engines break down. However unlike a car break down conditions at sea can quickly carry a vessel into real immediate danger, therefore a rapid response from Lifeboat crew’s are essential.”
