New Tyne keeps disabled tug off Devon rocks Salcombe - South West Division The qualities of Salcombe's new Tyne class lifeboat Baltic Exchange II were put to the test on 21 October 1988 in a service which led to the coxswain, Frank Smith, being congratulated in a letter from the director of the Institution.

On the previous evening the tug Durdham with a barge in tow had suffered engine failure a mile south of Start Point and, with gales forecast, the lifeboat had been launched to take off the crew.

The following day, 21 October, the crew returned aboard Panther, an ex-tug, which had been chartered to tow the disabled tug and barge into harbour.

At around 1730 Coxswain Smith heard Panther radio the coastguard to put the Salcombe lifeboat on stand-by, and he and the honorary secretary went to look at conditions on Salcombe bar. One look at the conditions, a SSE Force 6/7 and seas breaking on the bar, was enough, and they decided to launch the lifeboat.

The lifeboat was under way soon afterwards, and by this time Panther had arrived at the entrance where the tow parted. The disabled Durdham was being driven on to the cliffs to the west of the entrance and Panther was on her way back out over the bar to re-establish the tow. She was hit by a breaking sea as she turned and was laid flat.

Tow line Coxswain Smith waited for Panther to complete her turn, then drove the lifeboat astern into the sea and passed a tow-line.

Panther also passed a line and the two boats began the tow towards the harbour. Panther's tow parted again and the lifeboat took the casualty into the harbour on her own.

The service was watched by a large number of spectators from the cliffs overlooking the scene, and the station honorary secretary later received many messages congratulating the coxswain on his skill in carrying out the service in difficult conditions of wind and sea..