Thirty one passengers rescued from ferry aground on rocks The Chairman of the the Institution, Michael Vernon, has written to the coxswain and crew of the Lerwick lifeboat after the rescue of 31 passengers, mostly elderly, from a stranded ferry. Mr Vernon praised the coxswain, Hewitt Clark, for his high standard of seamanship and boat handling and the whole crew for the smooth running of the rescue.The 50ft passenger ferry Laerling, with 36 passengers from a coach tour and two crew members aboard, had run aground on rocks to the SE of the Isle of Noss, Shetland on 22 July 1992.

The coastguard paged the station's honorary secretary at 2030, and two minutes later the coxswain/mechanic, who was in the lifeboat station at the time, contacted the coastguard to discover that of the 38 people on board 32 were elderly and in some distress.

Lerwick's Arun class lifeboat Soldian, launched at 2040 and made best speed to the casualty's position, learning while on passage that a rescue helicopter already overhead would take off the four children aboard and one adult. The lift was successful, but with the vessel in a precarious position on rocks the severe downdraught from the rotors was causing her to roll violently.

Arriving at the scene at 2105 the lifeboat advised that she would go alongside to rescue the remaining passengers. In the Force 5 wind and 6ft swell the casualty was still pitching and rolling despite being stuck on top of the rock.

Coxswain/mechanic Clark used his seamanship and boat handling skills tobring the lifeboat alongside the heaving casualty, and it took just ten minutes for the crew of Soldian to transfer the remaining 31 passengers aboard the lifeboat.The crew remained on board as the coxswain had decided he would try to tow the casualty clear of the rocks, and by 2125 the Arun had succeeded - standing by while Laerling's crew checked for leaks.

As none were found and two other vessels had arrived on the scene the lifeboat left them to escort the casualty and returned to Lerwick with the passengers, some of whom were in a distressed state.

At 2209 the lifeboat berthed in North Harbour, directly opposite the hotel where the survivors, all members of a holiday trip, were staying, and by 2225 Soldian was refuelled, back on station and ready for service.

The helicopter landed the remaining five survivors at an emergency helipad in Lerwick..