Three saved from grounded yacht in rojjgh conditions The three crew members aboard St Bees' Atlantic earned a letter of thanks from Michael Vlasto the RNLI's Chief .of Operations following a difficult service to the yacht Supenramp which was aground in the entrance Whitehaven Harbour in a near gale from the west.

The yacht had been on passage tro Scotland to Whitehaven when her skipper misjudged the state of the tide at her destination and she grounded in the entrance to the harbour. With a westerly Force 7 blowing she was in danger of breaking up, and had her crew been washed overboard they would have been in grave difficultiesThe lifeboat station was informed of the situation at 1452 on 5 May 1998 and the Atlantic 75 Percy Henry Patmore MBE MM was launched a little over ten minutes later for the seven mile passage to the casualty.

At 1522 the lifeboat arrived at the scene to find the yacht well aground in very shallow water and bumping heavily on some rocks. The Coastguard ashore had managed to get a line to the vessel to prevent her being driven further ashore, but there was a great danger that her three crew might be washed overboard by the breakers.

The lifeboat was grounding repeatedly, but by putting both engines in the full 'tilt' position helmsman Malcolm Cavanagh wasable to reduce the draft enough to get the Atlantic between the yacht and the sea wall, to leeward of the casualty- Manoeuvring with the engines fully tilted was extremely difficult, but once in position the crew were able to help the three survivors aboard the lifeboat and take them ashore.

With the crew safe, the lifeboat returned to the yacht and was able to refloat her on the rising tide and bring her into the harbour.

The Atlantic was damaged by the continual pounding on the rocks and both engines also suffered in the encounter. As it would have been unwise to return by sea the lifeboat was recovered at Whitehaven and taken back to her station by road using the tractor and trailer. She was repaired at St Bees and put back into service later that night.The lifeboat Atlantic 75 B719 Percy Henry Paimore MBE MM The crew Helmsman Malcolm Cavanagh Crew members Alan Sewell and Raymond Wilkinson.