Castletownbere RNLI lifeboat assists fishing vessel in difficulty

Castletownbere RNLI lifeboat was launched yesterday to assist a 33-ft local fishing vessel that had lost its ability to manoeuvre.

The lifeboat service received an alert at 12.29 yesterday from Valentia Coastguard Maritime Coordination Rescue Centre requesting assistance for a boat that had three people on board and was reported to be in difficulty on the north side of Sheep’s Head.

Castletownbere’s lifeboat Annette Hutton was launched within eight minutes under the command of coxswain Dean Hegarty alongside crew members Marney O’Donoghue, Sean ‘Bawn’ O’Sullivan, Joe Cronin, David O’Donovan and William Power.

The lifeboat arrived to the stricken vessel at 1pm and the weather on-scene was described as westerly force 3/4 winds with a one-metre swell.

The boat was unable to manoeuvre as the anchor rope had become entangled in the propeller. Contact was made with the vessel and the decision was made to launch the lifeboat’s Y-boat with two crew aboard in an effort to cut the rope off the propeller.

Simultaneously, the lifeboat took the vessel in tow in an effort to take the weight off the rope and the Y-boat crew successfully removed most of the rope and freed the boat. However, a small amount of rope remained stuck to the rudder and it was decided, for safety reasons, to continue to tow the boat back to Castletownbere.

The lifeboat, with the boat in tow, left the scene at 2.30pm and arrived back to port by 4pm. The three persons onboard were reported to be safe and well, and the lifeboat was refuelled and ready for service again by 4.30pm.

The duty launching authority, Brendan O’Neill, paid tribute to the vessel operators for seeking assistance at an early stage and the lifeboat crew for their speedy response and successful outcome.