Five saved as fishing vessel drags ashore in storm force winds Arocky cove backed with high cliffs is no place to be when a severe onshore gale, gusting to Storm Force, is pounding the coast, but that is exactly the situation Coxswain Pat Marshall and the crew of the Plymouth lifeboat found themselves in on 6 September last year.Despite being so close to the steep cliffs that the 12ft seas were further confused as they bounced back off the cliff the lifeboat crew was able to get a tow line aboard a fishing vessel, which was by then only 300ft from the shore, and save both the boat and her five man crew.

When reporting on the service the Divisional Inspector remarked that without the lifeboat's intervention '...there can be no doubt that the vessel would have been stranded below Rame Head with the probable loss of her crew.' Coxswain Marshall's bold approach, good seamanship and his complete command of the situation earned him the RNLI's Thanks on Vellum, with the rest of the crew being awarded Vellum Service Certificates.

Coxswain Marshall had heard about the situation on his scanner and was already on his way to the lifeboat when the alarm was raised by the Coastguard at 1443 on Wednesday 6 September 1995.

The fishing vessel, the 76ft Senex Fidelis, had been returning to Plymouth from her fishing groundswhen trouble struck. Problems with her fuel system disabled her engines and, although she had been able to anchor, she was now dragging inexorably towards the rugged Cornish coast just to the east of Rame Head. A south-easterly severe gale was gusting between Force 8 and 10 at the scene and it was only a matter of time, and a short time, before Senex F/ctefcwould go ashore.

It was close to high water so Plymouth's Arun class City of Plymouth was able to take the shortest route through the narrow passage inside Drake's Island. Even when clear of the shelter of the outer breakwater she held her maximum speed, despite seas at least 12ft high just forward of the beam.

Again taking the shortest route possible City of Plymouth went inside the buoy marking offlying rocks off Penlee Point and altered course towards the casualty, by now desperately close to the shore in a small cove on the eastern side of Rame Head.

She was almost head to wind and sea and her trawl beams had been lowered to try to steady her. Briefing her skipper on the radio Coxswain Marshall took the lifeboat around her stern - so close inshore that the Coastguards in the cliff-top lookout lost sight of her - and manoeuvred up Senex Fidelis'sstarboard side around the protruding trawl beams. Although the lifeboat was being thrown about violently and shipping heavy water as the seas hit the cliff and rebounded back a heaving line was passed at the first attempt and a tow line passed. In perhaps the understatement of the year Pat Marshall said later: 'It was a good pick-up. Everything went well.' The tricky business of extricating the casualty then began, with the Arun easing ahead and paying out the long towing warp behind her.

Eventually she could start to take the strain and as gently as possible she began to tow the fishing vessel to seaward into the teeth of the wind and sea. It took some 40 minutes after the tow had been passed before the lifeboat and casualty had made a couple of miles 'offing' and Coxswain Marshall felt it was safe to turn away from the seas and head for the safety of Plymouth..