When cargo ship Red Duchess’s engines failed in severe gales her crew were helpless to stop her drifting towards the rocky shore of the Isle of Rum …

Tuesday 2 November 2010 was what’s known locally as a ‘brown day’ – 50mph winds and driving rain – when Mallaig Lifeboat Operations Manager Alex Mathieson received a call from Stornoway Coastguard. It was 10.17am and the coaster was lying stricken 4 miles south west of the remote Hebridean island – she would ground in less than 3 hours.

With six crew and around 1,200 tonnes of coal onboard, this would be disastrous. Even if the Red Duchess missed the rocks, she would be swept into Harris Bay, catastrophic for a nature reserve. The Coastguard Emergency Towing Vehicle Anglian Prince was still more than 6 hours away. Mallaig lifeboat was 23 miles away but could reach Red Duchess within 2 hours.

Alex contacted Coxswain Michael Ian Currie. ‘Generally we go out to fishing boats or yachts of up to 30m. This was a 76m vessel so getting up close could put our crew in danger. I can tell the crew to go but it’s the Coxswain’s decision,’ reflects Alex. Michael Ian weighed up the risks and made the call.

Assistant Mechanic Kevin McDonell was lying in bed when his pager went off. ‘I’d been up all night with a sickness bug so I was fairly nervous about going to sea. I hoped I wasn’t going to the back of the Isle of Rum – it’s so exposed.’ But that’s exactly where Kevin was going.

Within 15 minutes of the Coastguard request, the volunteers had launched the Severn class Henry Alston Hewat – straight into the teeth of a westerly gale and swells of up to 5m. ‘The weather was so poor you could hardly see the lifeboat from the station – it was just like a ghost ship,’ recalls Alex. The lifeboat was taking such a pounding that she had to reduce speed to 10 knots.

Rum looms

Henry Alston Hewat arrived just before noon to find the coaster lying broadside taking the full impact of the force 9 winds and carrying a lot of water. She was in great danger: in the 90 minutes since the lifeboat had launched, the Red Duchess had drifted to within 2 miles of the island. Her crew were understandably relieved: they had watched powerlessly as the cliffs of Rum loomed ominously closer.

‘If we put our boat alongside we would do damage to ourselves,’ reflects Michael Ian. ‘I remember thinking: “How is this wee lifeboat going to cope with this huge ship?” A good question with the lifeboat weighing 45 tonnes and the Red Duchess, plus load, a hefty 2,500 tonnes. The Coxswain told the Captain that his crew were going to attempt to throw a tow rope. This would require a close approach and men from both vessels to be on deck – a truly dangerous prospect.

Michael Ian took the lifeboat upwind of the coaster towards the stern and then let her fall back. Crew Member Hugh Cameron threw out a heaving line and was successful at the first attempt. It took four volunteers on the aft deck to connect the heavier tow rope – the lifeboat was rocking badly and they were practically on their hands and knees.

Stamina and tension

The crew didn’t attempt to tow the Red Duchess. The task was to keep her stern to the wind. ‘The Red Duchess was not behaving herself at all,’ Michael Ian recalls with a laugh. ‘We were a long time going up and down, backwards and forwards – not recommended!’ Yet they succeeded in reducing her drift from 1.5 knots to less than 0.5 knots.

‘I have been out in poorer weather,’ remembers Assistant Mechanic Kevin. ‘But it was the endurance factor: 6 hours head up to the wind – nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. Luckily, despite my sickness the night before, my stomach held up!’

Mallaig's crew were confident they had the situation under control but it was not easy. Michael Ian stayed at the helm the whole time: the Red Duchess couldn’t be allowed to get caught by the weather because that would put both her and the lifeboat in danger. He had to keep the correct tension on a tow rope that wasn’t designed for such weight or weather.

Crew Member Stuart Griffin is full of praise for his Coxswain’s skill and tenacity. ‘Imagine the level of concentration that took; being on your feet that long and not hardly daring to move – even to go to the toilet!’

But at 6pm, just when the Anglian Prince was arriving, the tow rope snapped.

A royal encounter

The crew of the giant tug successfully set up a tow and the lifeboat crew were thinking about turning for home when the Prince’s tow broke in a shower of sparks, and the Red Duchess fell back to within 1.5 miles of the shore. It would take at least 30 minutes to reattach, by which time the Red Duchess would be almost ashore.

Once again, the lifeboat crew attached a tow and edged Red Duchess back into open water. Within 45 minutes the Anglian Prince had fixed their tow. This time it held.

‘Once they were safely on their way you could feel the static in the air calm. We settled down and relaxed for the journey home. We felt quite high – a job well done, six men saved and a Scottish National Heritage island safe from environmental pollution,’ remembers Michael Ian. He later received a Framed Letter of Thanks from the RNLI's Chairman for his part in the rescue.

On his return Stuart kissed the ground, had a cup of tea and fell into bed! ‘The Red Duchess is the biggest boat we have ever tried to hold: only once have we towed something comparable – but that was in good weather.’