After a fishing boat capsized in seconds just outside Rosslare Harbour, Co Wexford, two volunteer crew members had to improvise if they were to respond in time …

Coxswain Eamonn O’Rourke happened to be at the Rosslare Harbour Lifeboat Station office on the chilly afternoon of 11 February when the radio blared ‘Mayday! Mayday!’ ‘It was so clear and loud on the radio, I knew they had to be close by,’ recalls Eamonn, who charged downstairs from the station’s office into the changing room and pulled on his gear.

Meanwhile, volunteer Crew Member Tony Kehoe was running towards the station. He had been working at the harbour when his mobile rang: his friend had spotted a Razor fishing boat sinking. ‘Sean is an electrician and happened to be working on an elevated platform on the breakwater,’ explains Tony. ‘That gave him the perfect view of the fishing boat – and when he realised it was going down, he rang my mobile.’

Tony rushed into the lifeboat station and almost bumped into Eamonn. The Rosslare Harbour crew have an all-weather Severn class, but with only two of them at the station at this point – and a fishing boat sinking – Tony and Eamonn both had a very different craft on their minds. ‘The first thing we shouted at each other was “boarding boat”,’ says Eamonn, referring to the inflatable craft they use to access their lifeboat for maintenance.

As the pair ran out onto the station’s pontoon, Tony got an update from Sean: ‘It’s upside down, there are three men in the water!’ Tony and Eamonn jumped aboard the boarding boat, and Eamonn took up the helm, steering the craft out of the harbour at top speed. By this time the rest of the lifeboat crew had been alerted and began to arrive at the station. They got kitted up along with Declan Dixon, a visiting RNLI Divisional Technical Manager. As they stepped aboard the Severn class lifeboat, Tony and Eamonn had already reached the scene, just a few hundred metres from the harbour.

‘When we approached we could see the fishing boat hull, and a guy in the water about 70m away from it, so we headed straight for him,’ remembers Tony. ‘He was cold, and beyond shouting.’ Eamonn powered the boarding boat alongside the fisherman, who was desperately clinging to a lifering. Resting their chests on the boarding boat’s sponsons, the two volunteers got their arms under the fisherman’s shoulders and lifted him aboard.

Meanwhile another fishing boat had picked up two more men from the water – so Eamonn and Tony pulled alongside and helped them aboard too. ‘They were in shock. They were talking gibberish,’ said Eamonn, who then powered the boarding boat back towards the station. As he did, the all-weather lifeboat was heading in the opposite direction under the command of Coxswain Arthur Shiel. Arthur and the crew arrived in time to see the fishing boat disappearing beneath the waves (pictured). They cleared the resulting debris, which included liferings and a liferaft.

Back at the station, the fishermen warmed up and managed to utter some words of gratitude before the volunteers helped them onto an ambulance that arrived outside. Lifeboat Operations Manager David Maloney says the rescue was a proud day for everyone at the station. ‘Without Tony and Eamonn’s actions, it could have been a very different outcome. We’ve had a lot of fishing tragedies over the years. But the crew train every week and make themselves available – so when you get a result like this, it’s all worthwhile.’

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‘ Everything seemed to fall in his favour. He was lucky’

‘That was one of my last shouts as I’ve reached the age where I’m standing down from the crew. I’ve volunteered here for 40 years and know that if you’re in the water, you wouldn’t last half an hour out there.

‘The fisherman couldn’t help himself much. He was a fit young fellow but he was very cold and had swallowed a lot of water. The fact they were spotted, the fact Eamonn and I were nearby, the fact the boarding boat was already in the water … everything seemed to fall in his favour. He was lucky.’

TONY KEHOE
ROSSLARE HARBOUR
CREW MEMBER