Dunbar’s Trent class all-weather lifeboat Sir Ronald Pechell Bt parted the ground chain of her moorings and was repeatedly thrown against rocks in ferocious conditions of up to storm force 10 in the early hours of Easter Sunday.

The lifeboat was refloated on the next high tide and she was lifted out onto the dockside by mid-afternoon. Crew, station helpers, volunteer coastguards and staff from Torness power station, Lafarge cement works, Coastal Marine and Bernard Hunter all worked tirelessly over the Easter weekend to recover the lifeboat, to remove equipment for reuse and to prevent environmental damage.

She was then removed from Torness to a boatyard for detailed inspection, and a relief boat placed on service on a new set of moorings. Unfortunately, the extent of the damage to the hull of the lifeboat is so severe that she is beyond economic repair. John Neville Taylor has been reallocated from the relief fl eet to Dunbar and an investigation into the failure of the mooring is underway.

The Spring 2008 issue of the Lifeboat reported the grounding of the Portrush Severn class lifeboat Katie Hannan during a rescue effort in January. Sadly, after a detailed inspection and investigation, it has been found that she too is beyond economic repair but that there was no negligence whatsoever on the part of her crew that night. The station has now been allocated a Severn class lifeboat from the relief fl eet, William Gordon Burr.