Trawler driven ashore in Force 9 southerly gale and 30ft seas Valentia - Ireland Division Valentia's Arun class lifeboat Margaret Frances Love was involved in a major incident on 13 January 1989 when the large, Brixham-registered trawler Big Cat was driven ashore in a southerly gale of up to Force 9. The lifeboat was hampered by having to operate on one engine, and Coxswain Seannie Murphy has received a framed letter of thanks from the Chairman of the RNLI for his seamanship and leadership during the nine-hour service in very poor weather.The mechanic, John Houlihan, assistant mechanic, James Murphy, and crew member John Sheehan have received letters of thanks from the chief of operations for their part in the service and the director has also written letters of thanks to local volunteers who operated a cliff rescue service and the owners of another trawler whose crew volunteered to help in the operation.

First news of the incident came at 0738 on 13 January when Valentia Radio informed the station's honorary secretary that Big Cat was ashore on nearby Beginnis Island, and that her master had reported she was taking water rapidly in extremely high seas.

The crew were paged and assembled by 0745, but Margaret Frances Love was officially off-service for repair work on the valve gear of her starboard engine. In consultation with the coxswain and mechanic the honorary secretary decided that it was imperative to launch, so at 0810 the Arun slipped her moorings on one engine to make her way to the scene.

She reached the casualty ten minutes later, in very heavy seas and a wind of between Force 7 and Force 9, towing the inflatable boarding boat in case this could be used to recover the trawler's crew. Anchoring about 70 yards from Big Cat the coxswain tried to veer down to the casualty, but it was obvious that any attempt at rescue from seaward would be very hazardous, as waves were breaking completely over the casualty. He called for helicopter assistance and for the local Cliff Life Saving Service (CLSS) and returned to Knightstown.

The Number One man from the CLSS and four volunteers boarded the lifeboat at 0910and she then went alongside a Spanish trawler, Monte Marin, to pick up ten more volunteers from her crew. There was no safe landing place on Beginnis Island so the 15-man shore-party was landed with the aid of a 35ft fishing boat which had arrived at the scene and the RNLI boarding boat. The men were on the island by approximately 0930 and made their way overland to the casualty. By 1015 they had succeeded in lifting 11 survivors up the 30ft cliffs, despite the very slippery conditions underfoot caused by dieselfuel leaking from the trawler.

Returning to Big Cat by sea the coxswain was notified at 1015 that three men were still missing, so the lifeboat immediately began to search to the north, following a line of debris.

Meanwhile helicopters from the Irish Air Corps and RAF Brawdy had arrived and between then transferred the survivors and cliff rescue team ashore from the island.

The lifeboat continued her search for the missing men in appalling conditions, with waves 30ft to 40ft high, and hampered by operating on only one engine. The coxswain kept an anchor ready to run as he searched the confined waters and his skill has been highly praised by all concerned. Eventually, at 1158 a body, later identified as Big Cat's engineer, was recovered but the lifeboat continued her search until 1300, when she returned to Knightstown to land the body.

Putting to sea again she continued searching through the afternoon, still in very bad conditions, until finally returning to her moorings at 1730, almost nine hours after launching. No further survivors or bodies had been found..