Tragedy as five are swept overboard from charter ya cht A short but difficult search for survivors from a yacht which had been knocked down in the entrance to Tynemouth harbour has earned three of Tynemouth lifeboat's crew letters of thanks from the RNLI's chairman and the remaining two crew members letters The 45ft yacht, Signature, had been on a corporate hospitality trip on 3 April 1998 and was knocked when down returning to the harbour in the early afternoon.

Although the wind had dropped to Force 3 from the east it had been blowing at around 55 knots throughout the previous night, and the swell running in to the harbour against the ebb stream was so spectacular that people had gathered to watch it pound against the piers. Seas around 35ft high were breaking across the whole width of the harbour entrance Tynemouth's Arun George and Olive Turner slipped her moorings at 1313, only six minutes after the Coastguard alerted the station, deliberately sailing one man short because of the urgency of the situation. More valuable time was saved by Mechanic Kevin Mole, who took command initially, taking the lifeboat across the river to pick up Coxswain Martin Kenny from the Pilot Jetty.

Five people had been swept overboard from the yacht during the knock-down, but by the time the lifeboat arrived two had been picked up.

Three more were still unaccounted for, and the people aboard the yacht were pointing in the direction of the harbour mouth.

Working through the huge breaking swells with everyone either belted in or clipped on the Arun searched towards and past the entrance, finding nothing. She had just turned to recovertheground when the h a r b o u r authority radioed to say that three bodies had been sighted some 400 yards to the NE of the north pier head. Turning back out to sea the crew quickly spotted them - two apparently motionless and the third swimming weakly. All three were recovered, although crew members had to position themselves outside of the guard rails and use the violent rolling of the lifeboat to help get them aboard.

Two had no vital signs and the crew began immediate resuscitation procedures. The third, the weak swimmer, was found to have such a severe head wound that his skull was visible.

Immediate evacuation was needed, and fortunately an RAF helicopter arrived almost at that moment. Running back to the pier heads at 10 knots the motion was so violent that Coxswain Kenny feared for the safety of the men on deck and, after three abortive attempts to put a winchman aboard, the manoeuvre was delayed until within the relative shelter of the piers.

Even here Coxswain Kenny needed to use full helm and maximum engine power to prevent the lifeboat broaching in the huge following seas, but eventually-about 300 yards inside the harbour- the conditions moderated enough for the winch man to be put aboard. The injured man was then lifted off and flown to hospital.

The crew continued their resuscitation attempts on the remaining casualties while the lifeboat headed for shore at full speed - arriving at 1338.

Unfortunately it took 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive - none having been available locally - and as the remaining six crew members from the yacht had now been transferred by police RIB to the lifeboat the atmosphere aboard was extremely tense and emotional.

Eventually the two remaining casualties were transferred to hospital but sadly, although the crews' efforts had given staff at the hospital a glimmer of hope, they did not survive.The Lifeboat Arunctass 52-13 George and Olive Turner The crew Chairman's letter of thanks.

Coxswain Martin Kenny Mechanic Kevin Mole Crew Member Edwin Chappie Director's letter of appreciation: Crew Member Michael Nugent Asst Mech Geoffrey Cowanof appreciation from the Director..