Boarding boat rescue from saltings REQUESTING THE LAUNCHING of Calshot lifeboat at 2207 on Thursday, January 29, HM Coastguard told the honorary secretary that at 2054 a red flare had been reported in Ashlett Creek and. in view of the very shallow water in this marsh area, Hamble Rescue, one of the several independent rescue units operating in the Solent, had been asked to help. Their inshore rescue boat, a Boston whaler, launched from Hamble and set course for Ashlett Creek, but, as a result of the severe weather, had difficulty in finding the channel in the creek and when first one and then both engines failed she was, at 2201, driven ashore on to the saltings.

Thus, at 2207, the Ashlett Creek area contained two separate boats in difficulty with a total of three people in jeopardy.

Calshot crew were called out by 'Weeper' and the 40' Keith Nelson lifeboat Ernest William and Elizabeth Ellen Hinde slipped her moorings at 2220 and ran north towards Ashlett Creek, towing Calshot's 15' 6" RFD inflatable boarding boat. Coxswain James Mayor had decided before slipping that because of the shallow marshy nature of the area the lifeboat would not be able to get close enough to effect a rescue direct or by breeches buoy; any chance of success depended on the use of the almost draftless inflatable dinghy.Calshot Coastguard recorded the wind to be 140°T, gale force 8 gusting at times to severe gale force 9. It was high water; visibility about five nautical miles. It was bitterly cold with an air temperature of I°F below zero. Gales from the south east had been blowing continuously for the previous 24 hours.

By 2226 Ernest William and Elizabeth Ellen Hinde had covered the mile distance between her moorings and the entrance to Ashlett Creek and anchored.

Calshot Coastguard mobile ashore in the area recorded wind direction east south east, 44 knots (force 9).

At 2240, not without difficulty in the prevailing weather, the boarding boat set off from the lifeboat under power from her 6 hp outboard with Crew Members Peter King, Christopher Smith and John Street, aboard. Coxswain Mayor had flares placed aboard the inflatable before allowing her to leave but, still concerned about the lack of radio communication, asked that Calshot mobile should advise the lifeboat immediately the inflatable was first sighted and then send regular reports.

The south-easterly sea was breaking across the marshes which appeared one mass of white water both from the land and from seaward. Having located the entrance to Ashlett Creek the boarding boat went up the channel and reached the first casualty at about 2300, where a .

man was transferred to the RNLI inflatable and landed ashore to the Coastguard Land Rover at Ashlett Quay at 2320.

At 2325 the boarding boat left Ashlett Quay to start the search for the Hamble inshore rescue boat. At about 2330 the second casualty was sighted aground on the marshes some several hundred yards off the main channel. The tide had now started to ebb and it was clear that the Hamble boat would be marooned on the marshes all night in sub-zero temperatures.

The next 15 minutes were the most difficult of the service. The area comprises numerous banks and gullies, so that the boarding boat was constantly grounding. For most of the two to three hundred yards the crew took it in turns to drag the boat over the mud banks.

Two of the crew would drag the boat while the third man remained aboard to give help as required. The two crew hauling were frequently up to their armpits in water and at times out of their depth, having to be pulled on board by the third member of the crew.

At 2345 Peter King, Christopher Smith and John Street had dragged the boarding boat up to the grounded Boston whaler where both occupants were found to be extremely cold and numb. The two Hamble crew members were taken safely aboard the inflatable, the whaler abandoned, and at 2351, the journey to rejoin Calshot lifeboat begun.

Once again, until the channel was reached, the three Calshot crew members drove and hauled the boarding boat over the undulating marsh of the saltings. Once into deeper water, course was set for Ernest William and Elizabeth Ellen Hinde, lying off the creek entrance at anchor. As soon as she was clear of the little amount of lee provided by the creek the boarding boat was taking head seas continuously and was full most of the time so that all aboard were up to their waists in water. The wind was estimated to be east south east force 8 to 9 with 5 to 7 foot seas.

By 0030 five very cold and numb men had laid the boarding boat alongside the lifeboat and had been helped below where blankets and hot drinks awaited them. All were so exhausted that they had been unable to climb aboard the lifeboat unaided. The 6 hp Evinrude boarding boat engine had given unfailing service even on the return across the marshes when it was partially under water at times.

Ernest William and Elizabeth Ellen Hinde with the boarding boat in tow set course for her moorings, which were reached at 0115. Five minutes later the Hamble Rescue crew had been taken ashore and were in the care of the Coastguard.

For this service the bronze medal for gallantry was awarded to Crew Members Peter J. King, Christopher J.

Smith and John A. Street. Medal service certificates have been presented to Coxswain James A. Mayor, Second Coxswain James W. M. Collis, Motor Mechanic Samuel L. Tanner and Crew Member Raymond Scholes..