When a 180m-long cargo vessel beached on a sandbank on 3 January, some crew members were trapped inside while others prepared to abandon ship. What happened next called on the skill and courage of four lifeboat crews

It was the first weekend of 2015, and the stretch of sea just outside Southampton Water on the south coast of England was calm. Lifeboat crews based around the Solent were hoping for a quiet evening. But just before 9.30pm, they had to spring into action. Pagers rang out in over 100 households at Calshot, Hampshire, and Cowes and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. The 51,000-tonne 180m car carrier Hoegh Osaka, with 1,400 cars and 500 tonnes of fuel onboard, had gone aground on Bramble Bank in the Solent and was lying 45° on her side. Twenty-five lives were in danger.

Four lifeboats – inshore B and D classes from Calshot, B class from Cowes, and an all-weather Severn class from Yarmouth – were the first rescue assets to arrive. The lifeboat volunteers were used to seeing large cargo vessels and cruise liners in the Solent. But seeing a vessel of that size on her side was a new experience. Yarmouth Coxswain Howard Lester recalls thinking: ‘Crikey! What are we expected to do with this?’

Arriving aboard the Calshot B class lifeboat, Helmsman Tom Pedersen and his crew weighed up the risks. ‘We weren’t sure if it was stable and with a vessel that size, it’s difficult to sense any small movements. The tide was pulling everything towards the hull and, with it lying on its side, if we got too close to the hull we were in danger of it coming on top of us.’

Several of the ship’s crew were making their way to the high side of the vessel, which was the safest place to evacuate by helicopter. But not all would be able to reach that point – so the lifeboat crews were asked to search around the hull to spot anyone lower down. It was then that Calshot’s D class volunteers spotted a man halfway up. (See panel right.)

The crew of Coastguard Rescue 104 helicopter, now hovering overhead, radioed that it was becoming more difficult to move people to the high side of the ship due to the increasing list – and many were stuck at the bottom of companionways and trapped inside the bridge. So the Yarmouth Coxswain asked Crew Member Wayne Isaacson if he could use his specialist rope and climbing skills as a tree surgeon to help out. ‘You use all the resources you can think of at the time. It was a calculated risk that thankfully paid off,’ says Howard.

Wayne agreed and the Coastguard crew accepted the offer. While Wayne prepared to be winched aboard the cargo ship, his fellow crew members brought the man rescued by Calshot’s D class onboard their all-weather lifeboat. They placed him in a stretcher with suspected neck and back injuries.

Then a second casualty was picked out by the searchlights from Cowes and Calshot lifeboats and the crews shouted to him to stay where he was. Cowes Crew Member Chris Cockroft said: ‘The casualty was clearly distressed and had climbed outside the safety rail. He jumped without warning.’

The Calshot D class crew quickly took him to the Yarmouth lifeboat where the crew changed his wet clothing for a thermal suit. The quickest way to take him ashore was to airlift him, but a particular helicopter stretcher was needed. So, leaving their winchman on the stricken ship, the helicopter crew lowered their stretcher down to the lifeboat. They took the opportunity to winch Wayne up and over to the cargo ship (see panel right).

Meanwhile, cold and shocked, the man who’d jumped was airlifted by Rescue 104. Then, an RAF helicopter – Rescue 169 from 22 Squadron based at RMB Chivenor – arrived and winched the stretchered man off. Both were taken ashore for treatment. Cowes and Calshot’s B class crews then  continued to search for any other casualties until the Coastguard, which had been coordinating the rescue, confirmed that all 25 onboard were  accounted for.

The lifeboat operations managers at all three stations had called other volunteers to be on standby in case fresh crews were needed. By 1.30am, the lifeboat crews were greeted by warm cups of tea and fellow crew back at their stations.

Three other ship’s crew, including the pilot and ship’s captain, had initially stayed onboard but were airlifted later, with a fresh Cowes crew  relaunching to cover. All were in bed by 3am.

‘It’s definitely not the sort of rescue we go to every day,’ concludes Tom. ‘It was a massive task but thankfully, after 4 hours, everyone was rescued safely.’

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‘His life was in my hand’

‘One man was holding onto a bollard and shouting for help but we couldn’t reach him. We moved closer to the hull but lost sight of him. He’d slipped and fallen. But thankfully he appeared with a ladder to walk down and jumped about 1m onto the lifeboat. All he could say was “Thank you, thank you”.

‘Then the B class radioed that someone else was going to jump. Mike [our Helmsman] took the lifeboat around sharpish and we saw him hit the water 3m away. Mike nudged the nose of the D class onto the ship but the tide pinned the casualty against the side – he was in danger of being swept under the hull.

‘His head was showing but he was just out of arm’s reach. I kept shouting “Can you hear me?” but there was no response. Eventually he raised his arm so I just grabbed him and Mike and Gavin helped him aboard. It didn’t hit me until a couple of days later, the magnitude of it all. He may not be here today if I hadn’t grabbed him. His life was in my hand and it was my first life saved.’

MARTIN BARRETT
22 | POSTMAN
D CLASS CREW
CALSHOT

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‘ If they slipped they would face a 20m drop ... I lost count of the number of people we helped’

‘I’m used to dangling on the end of a rope with my tree surgeon job, so it was a bit like work for me – just in a different location! As I was winched on the topside of the cargo vessel, I thought ‘that’s big’! I slid down and hit the superstructure where Dave ‘Wally’ Wallace, the Coastguard helicopter winchman, was already working hard to evacuate the ship’s crew.

‘Some were trying to climb up the sloping corridor while others were trapped in the bridge clinging onto desks. If they slipped they would face a 20m drop, slamming into metal below.

‘I’d taken some lifeboat ropes with me and cut up the heaving line to make Prusik loops on the main rope, which work under friction and lock in place. I managed to free a jammed door and dropped a rope down with a lifejacket safety line attached to one of the loops and, one by one, the crew put this round their arms and Dave and I pulled them up ready for winching.

‘Concentrating on what we were doing, I lost count of the number of people we helped but it must have been about 12 and Dave had already helped many others. We weren’t conscious of the ship moving, but it was definitely steeper when we were finally winched off together.’

WAYNE ISAACSON
42 | CONSULTANT ARBORICULTURIST
SEVERN CLASS CREW
YARMOUTH