rescue Insight Here is just a handful of incidents from 2007 from around the UK and RoI to give an insight into the thousands of lifeboat rescues carried out each year. See pages 20–27 for rescues marked . 1 freeD frOm rOPeS aS water riSeS A 15-year-old boy was fi shing on a small beach in Tyne and Wear on 14 September when he decided to wade into the water to have a closer look at a moored boat. He got entangled in some mooring ropes and was not able to free himself. The tide was rising and the water was cold. Two passers-by spotted him and raised the alarm at the nearby Tynemouth lifeboat station. The crew freed the boy and pulled him onboard their infl atable. He was not injured and, after being warmed up at the lifeboat station, made his own way home. 2 maN reSCUeD aND DrUg DeBriS CleareD When a RIB capsized off Mizen Head at 5am on 3 July, one of her crew swam ashore saying that two others had been onboard. Castletownbere’s Severn class lifeboat found one man fl oating in the water near the upturned boat, surrounded by white-wrapped bales. His condition was poor but he was revived by the lifeboat crew’s fi rst aid and transferred to the Coast Guard helicopter. Baltimore’s Tyne class lifeboat helped search for the third man. The bales were found to contain cocaine, and the Baltimore lifeboat (shown inset) later collected around 60 while clearing the debris, before handing them over to Revenue offi cers and gardaí. 3 BeaCh firSt aiD fOr all ageS RNLI lifeguards on Sandymouth Beach in Cornwall saved the life of a man in his 80s who suffered a heart attack on 7 September. The man’s wife was carrying out CPR when the lifeguards arrived. They restarted his heart with a defi brillator. He was given oxygen and put in the recovery position. The lifeguards then had to clear the beach for the air ambulance. A few weeks beforehand, RNLI lifeguards on Porth beach in Restormel had given fi rst aid to an 8-month-old baby who had been sleeping in a beach shelter that was swamped by a wave from the incoming tide. 4 wOrSeNiNg weather CreateS PrOBlemS ? ? Hayling Island’s Atlantic 75 lifeboat Betty Battle was launched to help two struggling windsurfers on 19 May. The wind had increased to force 6 and many craft were having diffi culties. One windsurfer made his own way ashore and the other was brought in by the lifeboat, which then went to a capsized RIB that was a hazard to other water users. Two of the volunteers secured a tow rope before climbing onto the hull and turning her the right way up using momentum from the waves and their own weight. 5 fiShermeN PlUCKeD frOm liferaft Three fi shermen were rescued by Wick’s Trent class Roy Barker II on 21 October, half an hour after abandoning their sinking vessel 10 miles north east of the town. The Proli? c was taking on large amounts of water, and the boat’s pump could not cope. The skipper alerted the Coastguard, and the crew, donning their lifejackets, took to the liferaft. They were in good condition when the lifeboat picked them up and declined to be brought ashore by an RAF helicopter. Half an hour later, those onboard watched Proli? c go under. The lifeboat crew retrieved the debris before bringing the fi shermen back to shore and their relieved families. 6 Oil ONBOarD A 27m boat on lease to the Ministry of Defence hit submerged rocks and began to sink at 11am on 20 August. When Holyhead’s Christopher Pearce arrived, the crew had already been airlifted to safety by helicopter, but tonnes of oil onboard the vessel, which was taking on water and listing 30°, posed a pollution threat.

The lifeboat crew used salvage pumps to try to refl oat her. As conditions worsened, with force 6 winds starting to blow, another pump was brought aboard and the crew began to win the battle. She was fi nally towed into harbour before 6pm..