Brave rescue in 10m-high waves
29.06.07
At Midnight on November
12th, 2006 the Lough Swilly all weather lifeboat William
Luckin was launched following a report of a 45 foot
crabber in difficulty 12 miles north of Dunaff Head at
the entrance to Lough Swilly, Co. Donegal. The vessel
was drifting easterly towards Inishtrahull in very rough
seas with six people on board. The weather that evening
was Force 7 gale but as the lifeboat cleared Fanad Head
they began to experience very rough seas and strong
winds gusting up to gale force 8.
At 1.20am the lifeboat approached the Mary Ellen and
George O’Hagan and the crew were on deck preparing to
pass a towline to the casualty vessel. The crabber was
rolling violently while Mark Barnett manoeuvred the
lifeboat closer to the vessel and after four attempts
the line was established between the two vessels.
After only an hour and a half, the towline parted and
had to be re-established. The combination of the strong
gale force winds and the heavy seas with up to 10 metre
swells made this an extremely difficult task. At this
stage after consultation with Malin Head Coast Guard, it
was decided to tow the Mary Ellen to Greencastle in
Lough Foyle. However just two hours later the towline
parted again. Following further consultations with the
Coast Guard it was decided that Portrush RNLI lifeboat
would be requested to escort the two vessels into Lough
Foyle and Greencastle.
At 5.20am the Portrush all weather lifeboat Katie Hannan
was launched and made passage to rendezvous with the
Lough Swilly Lifeboat. They arrived on the scene over an
hour later and took up position close to the Mary Ellen
to observe the tow. At this point the towline was giving
cause for concern as it was chaffing badly. Fortunately
the tow held and the three vessels entered Greencastle
harbour at 10.30am. The Lough Swilly lifeboat had been
out for over ten hours in horrendous conditions. |
Awarded yesterday for
their part in the mission:
Lough Swilly Lifeboat’s second coxswain Mark Barnett was
accorded the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on
Vellum for his role during the long and difficult rescue
of the 45 foot crabber Mary Ellen and her six crew
members on 12 November 2006.
Deputy second coxswain George O’Hagan is to receive a
Framed Letter of Thanks from the Chairman of the RNLI,
and Crew Members Gregory McDaid, Alan O’Hagan, Stephen
McGavigan and Dan Gallanagh are to be presented with
Vellum Service Certificates for their part in the rescue
operation.
Presenting the awards, RNLI divisional inspector, Colin
Williams said: "This was an arduous mission that
required skilful seamanship, great tenacity and strong
leadership with both |
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Mark Barnett and George
O’Hagan taking it in turns to command the Lough Swilly
lifeboat during the incident.
"The crew performed admirably in a very physically
challenging service. I have no doubt that without the
prompt intervention of the Lough Swilly Lifeboat, lives
could have been lost." Mr. Williams also thanked the
Portrush Lifeboat crew for providing valuable assistance
and the two lifeboat operations managers at Lough Swilly
and Portrush, Liam Magee and James Heaney who both
received RNLI Letters of Appreciation in recognition of
their support and assistance during the rescue. |
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