[T]he volunteer crew from the RNLI’s Barrow station were requested to launch their all-weather lifeboat this afternoon, Sunday 25th June 2017, to assist in the recovery of a motor cruiser which had suffered engine failure.
The request to launch the lifeboat came from HM Coastguard at Holyhead at 2:32pm this afternoon. The information received was that an 18’ motor cruiser had lost all engine power and was drifting with the ebb tide off the south end of Walney Island.
The lifeboat crew were paged and the all-weather lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’, was launched at 2:50pm under the command of Coxswain, Shaun Charnley, with four crew on board. A further four volunteer crew members responded to the call and remained at the lifeboat station in case their assistance was required.
The ‘Grace Dixon’ was on the scene within twenty minutes of launch and in blustery conditions was able to attach a line to the casualty vessel and take it under tow.
The inshore lifeboat, ‘Vision of Tamworth’, was then launched at 3:25pm with Dave Kell at the helm, assisted by two crew, in order to take over the final part of the tow and return the casualty vessel to the jetty adjacent the Roa Island Boat Club.
At 3:40pm, the motor cruiser and the three people on board were safely alongside the jetty.
Both lifeboats then returned to the lifeboat station and after being washed down were made ready for the next launch.
The wind at the time of the incident was westerly Force 5 and the high tide had been at 1:07pm with a predicted height of 9.8 metres.