Second Coxswain Martyn Hagan was just sitting down to his tea on 26 June when a call came through from Humber Coastguard. ‘We have a little job for you,’ the Coastguard said. The ‘little’ job involved rescuing the 18m Hartlepool-registered trawler Lindisfarne and her crew of three, who were in trouble 95 miles east of Flamborough Head.

RNLI lifeboats provide cover to 100 nautical miles out from the coast of the UK and RoI so this shout was very close to that limit. It would be testing the crew’s navigational skills. ‘One small error in a distance that far can put you miles out,’ explains Martyn, who had never before been in command on a mission of this scale. Despite the initially benign conditions, Martyn and his crew (Colin Fisk, Christopher Allen, Stephen Purvis and Shaun Gander) knew they all faced a challenge.

The crew launched the all-weather lifeboat Pride of the Humber at 4.30pm and, with a steady run out at their maximum 25 knots, took 4½ hours to reach the casualty vessel. A former fisherman, Martyn describes himself as a stickler for accuracy, a quality that paid off since, despite rain and visibility of less than 1 mile, the ailing trawler was successfully located.

Lindisfarne was a very uncomfortable place to be, powerless with a seized gearbox. This was beyond repair at sea so there was no alternative but to tow her to safety. Setting up a tow begins with the ageold art of throwing a heaving line between vessels, often a frustrating and time-consuming task when both parties are bobbing around in increasingly angry seas. But on this occasion the throw (and catch) were successful first time and in less than 10 minutes the pair were starting their long return journey.

To minimise the strain on the tow and prevent it breaking, Martyn kept their speed to around 7 knots. In a 3m swell the crew had to constantly work to balance the length of the tow rope to ensure the two boats were hitting the peaks and dropping into the troughs at the same time, otherwise the Lindisfarne would jar and pull like a bucking horse. As they made their slow and bumpy passage homewards the weather deteriorated, the winds reaching force 7.

‘It was the furthest I’ve had to go on a shout and 18 hours is the longest this station has done in 15 years,’ Martyn comments. ‘One of the hardest things was to keep morale going and keep everyone alert.’ The crew of five managed to drink 90 litres of water and empty the lifeboat’s food store during their long stint.

The Pride of the Humber transferred the tow to Bridlington lifeboat at 8.55am on 27 June, finally arriving back at Spurn Point at 10.30am.