Ten rescued TOLD BY a member of the public at 1309 on August 10, 1974, that a dinghy being sailed singlehanded had capsized in Port Eynon Bay and her helmsman was having trouble righting her, J. Walter Grove senior crew member of Horton and Port Eynon ILB station, alerted the crew and went immediately to the beach. From there he sighted a capsized Enterprise dinghy about halt a mile to the south east and, after watching the helmsman make two unsuccessful attempts to right the boat, he decided to launch the ILB, informing Rhossili Coastguard.

The wind was offshore from the north west force 6 to 7, and the sea moderate.

It was two hours after high water at Port Eynon; off the coast the ebb tidal stream was running westwards, but in the bay a counter current was causing the capsized boat to be set eastwards to Oxwich Point. Visibility was good.

The ILB with Walter Grove in command and Peter Muxworthy and Lawrence Grove as crew, was launched at 1312 and set course at full speed for the Enterprise. As they arrived alongside at 1316, a recall flare was fired from the boathouse. The man in the water was advised to board the ILB and abandon his boat since there was not enough time to tow her to the beach; at 1324 he was landed at Horton, exhausted, into the care of the station ^Hearing that Rhossili Coastguard had reported a boat capsized in Oxwich Bay,service three miles east of the station, Helmsman Grove immediately re-launched the ILB and set course towards Oxwich.

The wind was now blowing a full force 7 and, as she cleared the lee of the land the ILB ran into rough water.

Rounding Oxwich Point at 1336 her crew sighted skin-divers in two inflatable boats about a quarter of a mile south of the rocky point. The boats, with four divers in one and five in the other, were lashed together and, from the way they were waving, the men obviously needed help. Off the point the seas were rough and confused with 15' breaking waves. The ILB closed the boats to learn that both had suffered engine failure and were out of control; they were being carried by wind and tide to the south west, away from land into rougher water. Because of the state of the sea it was not possible to take off all the divers, so four were taken off from one boat and the remaining five were told that a helicopter would be called out to pick them up. A report was made by radio to Rhossili Coastguard landrover, with a request for a helicopter and also a shore boat to cover the capsize in Oxwich Bay.

The nearest place to land the survivors would have been Oxwich but, considering it unwise to run before the heavy sea, Helmsman Grove took the ILB slowly back towards Horton. On his way in he heard from the Coastguard that no helicopter was available. So, having landed the four men at Horton at 1358, the ILB immediately started back towards the inflatable boats.

Although an allowance was made for the south-westerly set and drift, when the ILB reached a position three quarters of a mile south south west of Oxwich Point nothing was sighted.

However, the Coastguard, up on the Point was able to direct her towards the casualty, which was about one mile further to the south south west. The wind had now increased to force 8, and wave heights were estimated to be about 30' The casualty was not sighted until about a quarter of a mile off, when both ILB and inflatable boats crested waves at the same time, and was not seen again until about 100 yards off.

Attempts to get alongside the one boat were hampered by the second, which was veering about on the end ot a line On the fourth attempt, however, the five divers were able to leap together into the ILB, which then set course back to Horton.

The return journey was extremely hazardous. The force 8 sea state was aggravated by a contrary tidal stream and waves were breaking over the ILB which was full to the transom. With the throttle fully opened the boat was making about 3 to 4 knots; just enough to maintain steerage way. The self-draining plug was removed, but this had no effect until the shelter of the bay was reached.(from page 281) The divers were landed at Horton at 1441 and the ILB was rehoused and ready for service by 1516.

For this service the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum were accorded to Helmsman John Walter Grove. Vellum service certificates were presented to Crew Members Peter Muxworthy and Lawrence Grove..