Gale search A 999 CALL was received by Hartland Coastguard at 2125 on Saturday April 25 from the owner and skipper of the 55ft auxiliary ketch Springtide. He told them that the yacht had been moored in an exposed position in Ilfracombe Harbour; preparing to move her to a position more sheltered from the force 8 to 9 northerly gale, he had jumped ashore to let go the mooring lines; the yacht had been blown clear of the quay and hehad been unable to get back on board her. The yacht, with three people on board, a 20-year-old man, a girl of 16 and a boy of 12, had then steamed out to sea to ride out the gale. The owner was confident that the young man on board had the experience and ability to handle the boat, but he asked the Coastguard to establish radio contact with the yacht to find out her intentions.

Radio contact was never established.

At 2150 the owner was told that the yacht was not replying to radio calls but she could be seen by a Coastguard auxiliary.

At 2205 the Coastguard telephoned the honorary secretary of Ilfracombe lifeboat station, but he was ill in bed. At the same time, however, the deputy launching authority arrived at the pier having seen the Coastguard Landrover pass. Seeing the yacht offshore he immediately arranged for the crew to be called by runner.

At 2220 the yacht disappeared from the sight of those watching on the pier.

She had run ashore at Capstone Point in the vicinity of Forty Steps. The DLA was asked to launched the lifeboat and maroons were fired immediately. The crew and shore helpers were already assembled and the lifeboat, the 37ft Oakley Lloyds II, was hauled out of her boathouse at 2222.

Heard Lane Slipway, down which Ilfracombe lifeboat is normally launched, could not be used because it was undergoing structural alterations as part of harbour works. The lifeboat was therefore taken on her carriage to the old slipway at the Brittania Hotel which was being used temporarily during this period. Despite having difficulty in negotiation parked vehicles along the road to the slipway and having to overcome a broken towing-hitch, caused when the tractor and carriage jackknifed on a bank of soft sand which had built up at the foot of the slipway, the lifeboat was launched on service at 2252. It was half an hour after high water.

When the lifeboat steamed clear of the harbour pier she met very rough seas thrown up by the gale blowing fromthe north north east; it was gusting to strong gale force 9. Coxswain David Clemence ordered every man to attach himself to the boat by his lifeline. Five minutes after launching the lifeboat was on the scene and, with an RAF Whirlwind helicopter from Chivenor, searching the sea and rocks around Capstone Point.

The helicopter could not lower a man on to the stranded ketch because of the height of her mast and rigging, and as the yacht had been carried over a large rock, she was inaccessible from the lifeboat.

A girl was recovered by the helicopter from the sea slightly west of the casualty at 2320; she was injured and so was flown ashore to an ambulance. At 2347 the helicopter returned to base to refuel while the lifeboat continued to search the area to the west of the casualty as the tide was now setting down the Bristol Channel.

It was learned at 0020 on Sunday April 26 that the girl survivor had said that a gas bottle had exploded aboard the yacht when about half a mile off shore. The three people on board had donned lifejackets and then jumped overboard.

The crew of the lifeboat endured considerable discomfort during the search.

The cockpit was often swamped by seascoming aboard and Coxswain Clemence was almost washed from the wheel on several occasions. Great concentration was needed to take the lifeboat across the breaking seas while searching very close in to the very rocky lee shore.

Despite the efforts of the lifeboat crew, the helicopter crew (back taking part in the search by 0038) two Coastguard cliff rescue companies searching the foreshore and two Fire Brigade units providing additional lighting, neither the young man nor the boy from the yacht was found. The search continued until 0240, when the lifeboat returned to harbour. She arrived at 0315 and was recovered, rehoused, refuelled and ready for service at 0435.

For this service a framed letter of thanks signed by the Duke of Atholl, chairman of the Institution, was presented to Coxswain David W. G.

Clemence..