Sick watch-leader evacuated from sail training ship WHILE St Helier's Tyne was away for engine repairs (see story page 4) the relief Waveney Thomas Forehead and Mary Rowse I! was involved in a medical evacuation from the 130ft sail training ship Malcolm Miller on 24 November 1997.

Watch-leader Paula Trewick was taken ill while the schooner was on passage from Plymouth to St Malo, and after seeking medical « advice on the radio, the master decided she be taken to ^hospital as soon as possible.

St Helier was the nearest port, but the conditions made approaching the harbour difficult, so with the casualty just under 20 miles to the southwest the lifeboat launched at 1113.

Despite poor visibility and a Force 7 wind she was alongside the 300-ton vessel a little over an hour later.

The photo shows the difficulties involved in putting a 44ft lifeboat alongside a sizeable ship in a 10ft swell and rough conditions. Although the lifeboat disappeared under the schooner's stern at one point and the seas almost threw the lifeboat against the steel side of the ship a successful approach was finally made and the casualty and her partner safely transferred.

After being landed in St Helier Paula was diagnosed as suffering from pneumonia and later flown home to Cornwall after treatment..