Spirit of Guernsey on shout to Sark - picture by Tony Rive

This year so far (2009), St Peter Port has already had a total of ‘34 shouts’- against a ten year rolling average of 25. Although some of these have been medical cases from Sark, which tends to distort the picture somewhat, a period of eight days in May provided a snapshot of what has become routine for the Guernsey lifeboat.

On 15 May, a call was received from the yacht ‘Chloe May’ who reported having been ‘knocked down’ by a large wave some 13 miles North West of the Roches Douvres. There were three on board, they had lost the sails, were low on fuel and now thoroughly tired and dispirited. The ‘Spirit of Guernsey’ set out and towed the vessel back to port much to the relief of those on board.

Early morning on 17 May, the St Peter Port lifeboat was called, together with Airsearch 1, by the French Coastguard at Cross Corsen to assist in the search for a French RIB ‘Frimousse’ with four on board, overdue and believed to have gone for a day’s fishing in the Roche Douvres area. On arrival in the area, the RIB had already been found, and a French Customs cutter and helicopter were standing by. There were three persons clinging to the upturned hull awaiting assistance. They had been there for some sixteen hours and were completely exhausted. They had prevented themselves from sliding off and into the sea by wrapping the boat’s tow line around their bodies. Having recovered the trio and after medical assessment, it was decided that they were unfit to be transferred to the helicopter and were returned to St Peter Port. Sadly, there was no sign of the fourth person who had apparently tried to swim ashore. A video of the survivors on upturned hull was posted on the French Coastguard website.

Six days later, the Guernsey Sea Scouts were celebrating a hundred years of sea scouting with a flotilla voyage from St Sampsons to Herm, involving around a hundred and fifty participants of all ages in canoes, rowing and sailing dinghies. Notwithstanding the good weather, there was a substantial group of safety and guard boats in the area, including the St Peter Port lifeboat. When the fleet was half way to Herm, a call was received that a charter yacht called ‘Nagatabi’ had lost its rudder near the Lower Heads buoy, some three miles away. Although being assisted by another vessel, she was slowly sinking. Recognising that the scouts were safe and well catered for; ‘Spirit of Guernsey’ was directed to assist the sinking yacht which was in imminent danger. A salvage pump was placed on board and the inflow controlled whilst on tow back to port. Upon arrival in St Peter Port, the Fire Brigade assisted and the yacht was later recovered from the water. Within an hour, of arriving alongside, the crew of six found themselves safely on board the ferry to St Malo, having curtailed their holiday.

Late on 24 August, St Peter Port Radio was advised that a power boat had arrived in St Sampsons and realised that the vessel that it had been escorting back from Herm was no longer with them. The missing RIB ‘Ribbed Pleasure’ was reported to have three persons on board, with no safety equipment whatsoever, as it had been ‘out on a trial run’. There was no response from any vessel in the area and the lifeboat was tasked at 2321 hours to search for the vessel. The Trident 5 ferry had just completed its last trip of the day and also offered to assist in the search.

The missing vessel made contact using a mobile phone, albeit its battery was almost flat, but was unable to provide much useful information as to its position. Both Trident 5 and ‘Spirit of Guernsey’ combed the area to the north of Brehon tower using their searchlights and flares to illuminate the area. With a grey hull, very small freeboard, no lights, on a dark night, drifting towards the Humps on the top of a spring tide, the prospects were not good. In desperation, they set fire to rags on board to attract attention and the lifeboat was soon alongside, having found the boat with two persons on board (not the three initially reported) a mile east of the Platte Fougère light.

An inspection of the boat the following day showed that the boat was utterly unprepared for any sort of trip to sea. There were neither lifejackets nor flares. The engine had not been maintained for some considerable time and even the steering wheel was not properly connected. The boat contained more beer than anything else. Whilst the RNLI is careful to avoid overt criticism and concentrates on saving life, on this occasion, the local Press made sufficient of the event to embarrass those involved, making further comment unnecessary.