Lifeboat rescues 33 crew from grounded ship in gales and darkness A difficult service in very poor conditions in which 33 seamen were taken off grounded fish factory ship has led to Coxswain Mechanic Hewitt Clark of Lerwick lifeboat station being awarded the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum. The other five lifeboatmen aboard during the service Second Coxswain Arthur Sinclair, Acting Assistant Mechanic Ian Fraser and crew members Ian Campbell, William Clark and Iain Tulloch) receive Vellum Service Certificates.The service began when, at 1920 on 28 October 1989, Shetland MRSC informed Lerwick's honorary secretary, Magnus Shearer, that the Nigerian registered fishfactory ship Azu was aground in Brei Wick Bay.

Her exact position was not clear and the honorary secretary informed the coastguard that in vie w of the darkness and poor weather he intended to have the lifeboat attend the casualty.

Dark At 1940 Lerwick'sreliefArunclass lifeboat Newsbuoy cast off and proceeded on service at full speed under the command of Coxswain/ Mechanic Hewitt Clark.

The night was very dark, the sky almost completely covered by dense clouds and heavy rain was falling. Visibility was a maximum of one mile and a near-gale was blowing from the east.

Low water had been some two hours earlier and the tide was now flowing southonwards through Bressay Sound at about 2 knots.

The sea was rough as the lifeboat cleared Lerwick Harbour, and the swell gradually increased to a height of 10ft to 12ft as the lifeboat rounded The Nabb and entered Brei Wick.At 1948 the lifeboat approached the casualty and found the 1,800-ton vessel lying on a south-westerly heading, straddling a rock and with her middle third firmly aground.

She was pitching and rolling up to 15 degrees, with her unrestrained derricks swinging wildly out over both sides and her starboard anchor banging against the hull.

Crew All the decklights were on and the crew could be seen assembled on the afterdeck.

The pilot boat/tug Knab had a line to the casualty's stem and was trying to pull her off the rock while Azu went astern.The coxswain had spoken with A:u's master on the passage to Brei Wick and had been asked to take off most of the crew, leaving only a navigation party on board.

The pilot boat had been reluctant to approach Azu too closely as the crew were evidently in a state of panic and it was feared they might attempt to jump aboard, with resultant injury or loss of life.

Coxswain/Mechanic Clark decided to evacuate the crew from a short pilot ladder already rigged between two large fenders hanging over the starboard quarter, keeping his stem to the wash from the casualty's propeller.

Ladder Approaching from the west he placed the starboard shoulder of the lifeboat close to the pilot ladder and, controlled, encouraged and timed by the second coxswain, a man was pulled aboard from the ladder.

The lifeboat then came clear stern-first to avoid the roll of the casualty to starboard, and the crewman was taken aft. The lifeboat then approached again, as conditions permitted, and took off another crewman in the same way. This manoeuvre was repeated more than 30 times, in a period of 20 minutes, until 33 men had been safely taken off.

The coxswain was confident that he could deal with the eight men remaining on the casualty in the event of an emergency evacuation and, at 2016, the lifeboat returned to Lerwick Harbour, to land the 33 survivors before returning to the casualty.

The towline had parted and been re-connected in her absence, and with a combination of the rising tide, the violent motion of the casualty, her power astern and the weight on the towline, she came clear of the rocks at 2128. Knab and the lifeboat escorted her to a safe area, where she was anchored at 2143, and by 2222 it had been established that the Azu was not making water.

The lifeboat returned to Lerwick, was refuelled and ready for service again at 2245..