Fisherman plucked to safety by D class as night falls T he three crew members of Sunderland's D class inshore lifeboat received a framed letter of thanks from David Acland, the RNLI's Chairman following a service in poor weather and wintry conditions just before Christmas last year.

The D class had been called out at 1615 on 20 December when a man who had been fishing was swept into the sea at a place known as Hendon Tanks, just over a mile from the station.

Launching into heavy, breaking surf caused by a north westerly Force 6 to 7 the D class headed for the scene, with the station's all-weather Trent also launching to back up the smaller boat in view of the conditions and failing light.

When the crew of the D class, Helmsman Michael Cowe and crew members Martin Barry and Brian Clark-Barkess, left the harbour they had to position their weight carefully and adjust their speed as they picked their way through heavy seas on the port beam to reach the casualty.

A police helicopter arrived on the scene and was able to locate the man with its infra-red sensors, directing the inflatable to him.

The location was particularly difficult, less than half a cable from a curving sea wall which was reflecting the 16ft swell to create frequent, peaking waves.

Although the large middle-age man was wearing a floatation suit it had become swamped and he was barely floating. The D class ran in and Brian Clark-Barkess went into the water to assist the helpless man. It took the combined efforts of all three lifeboatmen to get the casualty into the inflatable before she was able to head offshore to get clear of the confused seas.

Here she transferred the man to the all-weather lifeboat - a difficult task in the large seas - and from there he was airlifted to hospital suffering from hypothermia and an injured ankle.

It took the combined efforts of all three lifeboatmen to get the casualty into the inflatable' Four and a dog cut off by the tide R,ichard Jenkins of Borth lifeboat has also received a letter of Ithanks from the RNLI's Chairman for his leadership and seamanship skills after he had taken the station's D class onto a beach in heavy seas to rescue two men, two women and their dog when they had been cut off by the tide on 6 September last year.

After a difficult launch through heavy surf the lifeboat reached the scene and veered down on to the beach, which shelved steeply and was strewn with rocks.

Once the water was shallow enough crew members Lee Trubshaw and Stuart Taylor went over the side to hold the boat head to sea as they beached her stern-first, just long enough for the stranded people to be taken aboard.

Getting off the beach was complicated by the anchor warp fouling the propeller and stalling the engine-swiftly cleared by Richard-and the anchor warp then snagging on a submerged rock and swinging the lifeboat round stern to sea.

However Stuart ordered the warp to be cut free and he was then able to take the inflatable out stern first until there was enough sea room to turn.

The survivors were then transferred to Aberystwyth's Atlantic, which had launched toassist and had been standing by throughout the service, and were landed safely at Aberystwyth 12 minutes later.

Three lifeboats save six people from devastated dinghy_race II three of Southend-on-Sea's inshore lifeboats were at sea on 3 January this year when rapidly deteriorating conditions devastated a fleet of racing sailing dinghies.

The race, the annual Brass Monkey event, was being held off nearby Leigh-on-Sea but as the wind rose to Severe Gale Force 9 and the sea state worsened every one of the competitors was in trouble. The safety boats guarding the fleet were overwhelmed by the number of incidents and at 1242 the Coastguard activated the lifeboat crew's pagers to begin a long and arduous service for the three crews.

David Acland, the RNLI's Chairman later sent the station a framed letter of thanks for their initiative, resourcefulness and team work.

The f irst D class launched from her slipway at the base of the pier in short order, and a second crew went to the pier head to launch the Atlantic stationed there.

With so many casualties Southend's third lifeboat was needed, so another crew was summoned by telephone and they launched the pier-head D class.

The wind by now was around 45 knots from just north of west, blowing the capsized and sinking dinghies offshore and out of the estuary.

All three lifeboats worked steadily at checking the upturned and sinking boats, taking off people up to a mile-and-a-half out to sea.

Three people were landed by the Atlantic at Leigh, before she returned to the rapidly expanding search area.

Several craft had to be checked to ensure that no one was trapped under them, and the situation was aggravated by the fact that conditions were so bad and the number of casualties so great that it was impossible to retrieve them. As a result a steady flow of reports from people ashore and other shipping meant that some dinghies had to be checked and rechecked.

The lifeboats found that they were being tasked to the same upturned vessel several times.

By now the wind was so strong that the windage of the centreplates of some of the dinghies was enough to flip them partially upright, the wind then getting under the sails and righting them before capsizing them again.

In this kind of weather all three lifeboats had great difficulty getting alongside some of the dinghies.

Eventually all three boats were stood down, having rescued a total of six people - but just after they were all rehoused at around 1500 came another call from the Coastguard. The report was of a person possibly clinging to an upturned boat about threequarters of a mile offshore further down the estuary.

There were also more reports from shipping about abandoned boats drifting out to sea.

The Atlantic and the inshore D class launched again, the Atlantic first checking out the reported person but established that the boat was unoccupied.

To avoid further reports of drifting boats the Atlantic and the D - with the assistance of Sheerness's allweather boat, recently released from another service - managed to sort out and bring back a total of six dinghies. These were all casualties from the morning race, and with all boats now accounted for there were no further reports coming in.

The two lifeboats finally returned to their stations at 1740, the return of service noting that 'the crews were somewhat weary by then...'.

Hoax caller wastes lifeboats' time Lifeboat crews never mind being called out to a false alarm with good intent, but they are less happy about hoax calls. Fortunately hoaxes are relatively rare but they can put crews' lives at risk and also tie up the emergency services when they could be needed for genuine emergencies.

Blyth's inshore and all-weather lifeboats were the victim of one such hoax on 3 February this year when they were at sea for two hours in winter weather, darkness and a Force 5 wind after two children were reportedly being swept out to sea about threequarters of a mile to the south of the station. An RAF helicopter and the Northumbria police helicopter were called, police officers and Coastguards searched the shore and an ambulance also stood by.

However this time the call was quite quickly identified as a hoax, and a teenager was arrested by the police near the phone box from which the 999 call had been made.

The same man was later charged with causing a public nuisance by making calls to different emergency services on five separate occasions. He was remanded in custody.

Brighton ls_Atl.antic_s_aves two from pier A service with chilling echoes of the Silver medal service carried out by the same station nearly four years ago Brighton's Atlantic 75 Thelma Glossop rescued two people from under Brighton pier last September.

The service earned all three crew members letters of thanks, helmsman Stanley Todd from the Director and crew members Binny McColl and Pheonix George from the Chief of Operations.

A Force 7 was blowing on to the beach from the south east at Brighton on 30 September last year when the Coastguard alerted the station to the plight of the two men at 1440.

Sea conditions were very rough, with waves up to 13ft high as the Atlantic left the shelter of her marina base. The pier is only just over a mile from the station and the Atlantic reached the scene in some three minutes.

There she found one man in a lifebelt clinging to the windward side of the pier and another, who had gone down to help, trapped about 12ft above him.

Bringing the Atlantic as close as they dared in the heavy seas the crew threw the first man a quoit, which he was able to put his arm through allowing him to be pulled clear.

The lifeboat backed away as the casualty was brought aboard and made ready for the next approach.

Helmsman Stanley Todd eased the Atlantic back under the pier again, well aware of the numerous underwater obstructions. With her bow actually underneath the structure the crew encouraged the second man to jump intothe lifeboat.

The bow was rising and falling by more than 10ft and the crew signalled to the man to jump when it was at its highest.

He hesitated, and then jumped as the bow fell away - dropping some 8ft onto the deck before falling forward on to the anchor reel. The gash inflicted on his forehead later needed stitches.

However both men were now safely aboard and the Atlantic was able to retreat from the dangerous conditions close to the pier and make her way back upwind to the lifeboat station - at reduced speed because of the wind and sea conditions.

Although she was only at sea for some 20 minutes the rescue was very difficult one, only made possible by the skill and training of the crew.

underwater obstructions and a Force 7 onshore wind Severe Weather Hits Yacht Blyth's all-weather lifeboat, one of the victims of the hoax call on the previous page, is pictured towing a yacht to safety on 17 October last year after she had fallen foul of suddenly deteriorating weather. The yacht was only a few miles to the (south of the harbour, but with winds of 35 knots gusting tc swell she was in da The lifeboat took through heavy seas from the breakers in 50, rough seas and a heavy iger of being swept ashore, her in tow, brought her back the size of which can be seen :he photograph - and returned her safely to her m rina berth just under an hour after leaving her mooring.

Animal Magic. „ There's nothing in the RNLI's Charter which says that the lives it saves must be human ones - and indeed there is always a regular trickle of services which involve animals of one sort or another.

Three came to light recently with touching and humorous slants… Woolly Jumpers No one is too sure why 13 sheep ended up on the cliffs just outside Fowey on 15 March this year, but a service to stand-by while a Coastguard cliff rescue team tried to extricate them ended up with some unusual 'survivors' in the station's D class! Three sheep had been lifted to the top by the cliff rescue team, but the other ten were further down and would have to go out by lifeboat... after being lowered to sea level in a large bag.

Despite poor visibility the inflatable landed on the beach and the animals were duly returned to a very grateful farmer - slightly scratched by their initial fall but otherwise unharmed.

There remained one problem to deal with. Sheep are not seagoing animals and can become very frightened in a small, inflatable - nevertheless 30 minutes after her arrival the lifeboat was clean enough to be declared ready for service again.

Springing Spaniels Anyone who has been on speaking terms with a very lively Springer Spaniel will hardly be surprised that a significant number of dog-and-lifeboat incidents seem to involve the breed... Including the one which made the national papers when Sheba, a yearold Springer, was more interested in the chase than looking where she was going while at the top of 250ft cliffs near Beachy Head.

Her horrified owners called the Coastguard to say she had fallen, and as Eastbourne's inshore lifeboat was on exercise with the allweather lifeboat at the time she was able to reach the bottom of the cliff about 15 minutes after the call.

To the crews' great surprise they found a dog running around happily on the beach, and at first could not believe that this was the one they were searching for. Amazingly, it was.

It needed all three crew members on the beach, but eventually Sheba was caught, wrapped in blanket borrowed from the all-weather lifeboat and taken back to the lifeboat station to be re-united with her owners.

Sheba was checked over by a vet, and was found to be completely unharmed after her adventure.

Hundreds of Lives Saved... probably When Poole's Atlantic launched at 2050 on Easter Saturday this year the crew thought they were searching for red flares.

Instead, when they arrived at the scene in a dark and uninhabited corner of Poole Harbour, they found moving infra-red lights - and the sound of shotguns! A substantial number of Easter Bunnies were seen diving for cover, and the lifeboat crew - very wisely - decided not to go ashore just yet! The arrival of a rather official looking boat with a blue light-even if it was a little reluctant to come too close - evidently distracted the marksmen, and as their lights faded rapidly away the rabbit population headed for its burrows.

Crew member Anne Millman later attributed the Cause of Service to 'Rabbits in Distress'; the Prime Cause of Incident as 'Shotgun Held at Nose Point1 and the Total Number of Survivors as 'lots', adding that there would have been hundreds more by the end of the shout...

Anne works at the Poole HQ spearheading the RNLI's youth promotion campaign and producing Storm Force News, so perhaps it's just as well that her younger readers won't hear her final remark: The crew won't be claiming salvage, but some rabbit pie wouldn't have gone amiss. Happy Easter!'.