A fisherman lay injured onboard the world’s largest trawler, 200 miles offshore of County Galway

It was just after 7pm on 23 January 2010 and the crew of the 144m trawler Annelies Ilena had caught 50 tonnes of scad (horse mackerel). But now her nets, the size of a football stadium, were tangled. The vessel lurched and one fisherman fell into the gear. His fellows dragged him clear but not before he sustained shoulder, collar bone and ligament injuries.

Thick fog made helicopter flight impossible so, at 7.40pm, Shannon Coast Guard requested the launch of Fenit RNLI all-weather lifeboat with Lifeboat Medical Adviser Tom McCormack onboard. Second Coxswain Gaff Moriarty and his crew launched 10 minutes later, reliant on electronic navigation aids. Communications were a challenge too: the trawler had a foreign crew, and the lifeboat was quickly out of VHF range with the Coast Guard, requiring the use of the MF set.

A course was set to rendezvous midway with the Annelies Ilena, which was making best speed from the fishing grounds, and it was just before midnight and 107 miles later that Trent class Robert Hywell Jones Williams came out of the gloom by the trawler. The fog had lifted but the lifeboat was dwarfed so transferring a casualty would demand ingenuity.

There was a 10m drop between decks so a crane was rigged to lower the injured man in a steel basket. Gaff needed all hands on deck to avoid damage to the lifeboat’s radar and radio aerials. With the swell, it took four attempts and 40 minutes to get alongside just at the right time for the basket to hit the deck. The casualty received entonox and his arm was immobilised before he was strapped into a seat for the 3½-hour return passage through what were again misty, murky waters.

Just after 4am, the fisherman was finally transferred to an ambulance and taken to hospital. But the night wasn’t over for the volunteers. Having refuelled and restocked the lifeboat, they launched again to search for a missing person but she was found safe and well 30 minutes later, and the crew finally left the station for home at 5.30am. As the Director of the Irish Coast Guard and RNLI Operations Director both said in Letters of Appreciation to the station in January: ‘It was a job well done.’ Local volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager Gerard O’Donnell added: ‘Working over 100 miles from shore, the Coxswain and crew had every confidence in the RNLI’s lifeboat and her equipment.’