One breezy Autumn evening at dusk, a passenger vessel travelling along the River Thames collided with Tower Pier in central London. Upriver at Chiswick, another incident unfolded

At 7pm on Wednesday 5 October 2011 the E class lifeboat Ray and Audrey Lusty arrived first on scene at the pier, on the north side of the river near Tower Bridge. Despite taking on water, the 25m catamaran Moon Clipper remained afloat but had clearly hit the pier with some force.

Helm Stu Morrison, Mechanic Stanley Todd, Crew Member Keith Cima and trainee Crew Member Steve O’Flaherty were greeted by a chaotic and messy scene. Of the 30 sightseers, commuters and crew they needed to evacuate, they assessed that 14 were injured. This was an unusually large number to deal with in one incident but Stu and his crew quickly took control of a daunting situation until London Ambulance Service personnel arrived.

Typically highly trained in casualty care, the lifeboat crew carried out a swift triage before tending to one elderly man who had been thrown from his wheelchair striking his head; then a passenger with a broken jaw; onto another with a deep gash in his forehead; to several with suspected spinal injuries; others with abrasions and many in psychological shock, and with some already behaving hysterically.

The first two ambulance crew arrived on bicycles before their counterparts in ambulances, and the Police and Port of London Authority (PLA) responded too. Four of the passengers were taken to hospital and the others were advised to visit their doctor the next day. After a frantic hour of activity, the lifeboat and crew returned to their station, ready for the next call.

Pending an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit, the PLA and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, the Chairman of the RNLI’s Medical and Survival Committee, Professor Charles Deakin, wrote to the Tower crew with his appreciation: ‘I would like to commend the professional and efficient teamwork involved in treating the casualties and dealing with the situation promptly. The RNLI places much emphasis on first aid (casualty care) training for our crew members and such events serve to justify the study time and practical effort that I know you devote to it.’

Janet Kelly, Lifeboat Station Manager, states: ‘This was an unusual rescue. These passenger boats have a very reliable record and they are a very  pleasurable way to get around London. We don’t yet know the outcome of the enquiry. Tower lifeboat was first on scene and was confronted with quite a few casualties. Luckily none had life-threatening injuries. I am proud of the way the crew did the initial triage and dealt with so many people while they were waiting for ambulance personnel to arrive.

Meanwhile …
On the same day, at the same time, a lifeboat from Chiswick was answering the call to another passenger vessel. The Kingwood had broken down near Richmond lock – she had suffered engine failure thanks to debris stuck in the cooling water intake. She had anchored but as the tide turned, her anchor started dragging and she began heading uncontrolled towards the bank.

Intercepting her swiftly, Crew Peter Knight, Wayne Bellamy and Ann Farmilo then evacuated the 16 passengers onto E-006 The Joan and Kenneth Bellamy and landed them safely with assistance from two lock-keepers who were on hand. Peter helped clear the blockage caused by a discarded builder's sack so the Kingwood was then able to proceed safely under her own power.

Prepared for the worst
Almost exactly a year prior to the day, lifeboat crews from Tower, Chiswick and Gravesend had taken part in Operation Orangetree, a major search and rescue exercise on the Thames. Coordinated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, it simulated a collision between two vessels, one passenger and one commercial. The scenario involved a fire and severe damage, with weighted dummies as casualties.

It was staged to test the responses of the RNLI; Police, Fire and Ambulance services; London Coastguard; PLA; the Passenger Boat Association and other agencies, and was the first such exercise to be held during the hours of darkness. At the time, RNLI Divisional Inspector Andrew Ashton had commented presciently: ‘The Thames is an extremely busy river and it is quite conceivable that a major incident could happen that requires a coordinated approach by several agencies.’

A decade of service
Lifeboats have been stationed on the Thames since January 2002. They were introduced as part of the measures to prevent a repeat of the 1989 disaster in which the pleasurecruiser Marchioness was hit by the dredger Bowbelle, sinking with the loss of 51 lives.

The requirement was for craft that would be able to get to casualties within 15 minutes and the RNLI quickly ordered six 9m aluminium-hulled boats from a commercial yard and adapted them. Dubbed the E class, they entered service in 2002. After a formidable number of rescues over the intervening decade, they are coming to the end of their serviceable life but this time RNLI engineers have had the time to create and build the best possible successor, the E class Mark 2.

These craft have a maximum speed of 40 knots, are 10.5m in length, have improved manoeuvrability, can take 2–5 crew in ergonomically designed seats and provide a larger deck space for casualty care. Hurley Burly, Dougie and Donna B, and Brawn Challenge will duly operate from Tower and Chiswick this year but the trusty Mark 1s are not to be pensioned off just yet. They are likely to be helping out with two huge events in the capital this year: the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the Olympics, when extra safety cover will be needed.

Tower Lifeboat Station, now based at Lifeboat Pier on the Embankment next to Waterloo Bridge, is consistently the busiest in the whole of the RNLI, with 522 launches in 2011, followed by Chiswick (228). The river is not only thronging with a variety of leisure, commercial and official craft but it is characterised by fast currents, a powerful tide and occasional debris, so anything from collisions and breakdowns to medical emergencies, people stuck in the mud or falling into the river are common. A particularly difficult part of RNLI life here is dealing with those attempting to take their own life. Never judgmental, our crews do what they have to do quietly, efficiently and with integrity.

Further upriver again, Teddington station operates D class inflatable lifeboats while down near the mouth of the river, Gravesend operates an Atlantic 85 RIB, equipping them for rescue at sea too. As with most other RNLI stations, Teddington is crewed by volunteers, on call 24 hours a day, while the other three Thames stations have a mixture of paid and volunteer crew on station in shifts – if need be, sleeping in their kit. This allows the exceptionally fast launch times required to save the lives of people who are often already in the water – just like our lifeguards patrolling a beach.

Aside from the full-time crew, volunteers at the Thames stations have a variety of ‘day’ jobs, from emergency workers in the Police, Fire and Ambulance services, to medical students, office workers, those with their own businesses, bankers, an outdoor pursuits trainer and there's even a butler!