Mayday call by grounded Littlehampton fishing boat

LITTLEHAMPTON’S lifeboat crew answered two emergency calls in the past week, going to the aid of a grounded fishing boat and a small motor boat with engine failure.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd Feb 2015, 12:00 BST

On Saturday (January 24), a 999 call was received by the coastguard from the crew of the motor boat, which had broken down and was stranded near the entrance to the harbour.

Littlehampton RNLI’s volunteer crew was paged at 5pm and ten minutes later the Atlantic 75 Blue Peter 1 lifeboat was launched with Rob Devo, Ivan Greer, and Richard Winstanley aboard.

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They rigged a tow line to the boat and then returned it safely to its moorings in the harbour.

Last Wednesday, the coastguard paged the lifeboat crew at 8.24pm, following a mayday alarm call from the crew of the fishing vessel, which had run aground 200m east of the harbour entrance.

Within minutes, Blue Peter 1 was launched and crew members Andy Harris, Warren Marden and Richard Winstanley quickly reached the stranded boat. They decided more help was needed and called out the station’s D Class lifeboat Ray of Hope. On arrival, the crew of Rob Devo and Simon Tann rigged a tow line between Blue Peter 1 and the fishing boat, which was then towed into deeper water, where it was confirmed there was no apparent damage, and the vessel returned to its moorings in the harbour under its own power, escorted by both lifeboats.