RNLI volunteers from Wick responded to a distress signal received by Shetland Coastguard in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Wick’s Lifeboat volunteers set out at 12.45am on Tuesday, January 25 to rescue a fishing vessel experiencing problems.
Shetland Coastguard broadcast a Pan Pan message – an international standard urgency signal – at 12.36am on behalf of a fishing vessel.
As no other vessels responded at the time to the HM Coastguard’s broadcast, Wick launched their all-weather lifeboat, Roy Barker II. Launched in under 10 minutes, the team of seven volunteers managed to locate the fishing boat east of Helmsdale.
The lifeboat crew managed to arrive at the site quickly. Using RADAR, VHF direction finder, binoculars and Night Vision Image Intensifier they arrived just over an hour later.
Upon approaching, the fishing vessel’s navigation lights were very dim. Having experienced machinery failure, the vessel had very little battery power left and was hard to make out.
Wick Lifeboat quickly established communication with the skipper. After some review, it was decided that towing the 8.5m vessel to the nearest haven of Helmsdale was the best course.
A local vessel from Helmsdale also came out to assist the crew by towing the fishing vessel into the haven.
The lifeboat crew left Helmsdale at 4.15am and managed to get back to Wick Harbour at 6am. They then refueled the Lifeboat ready to be relaunched if needed at 7am.
RNLI Wick Lifeboat said: “The crew of Wick lifeboat are incredibly grateful to the support given by another local vessel – putting to sea in the middle of the night to help a fellow fisherman.”