Warning after Hartlepool RNLI crew scrambled to help stricken boats

Hartlepool RNLI all weather lifeboat with the personal watercraft that was towed to Hartlepool Marina. Photo by RNLI/Tom Collins.

The team of volunteers scrambled into action after receiving a call from Humber Coastguard to help two people stuck on a broken down boat at around 8.30pm on Saturday, August 24.

The boat had suffered a mechanical failure three miles off Crimdon.

A volunteer crew then launched the inshore lifeboat ‘Solihull’ at 8.44pm and reached the boat by 9pm, where it was then towed to Hartlepool Marina.

Then at 9.25pm the inshore lifeboat was tasked by Humber Coastguard to assist the local Coastguard team with a second incident in the Hartlepool area.

The all-weather lifeboat was launched at 9.30pm to take over the tow of a boat to the remaining distance to the marina where it arrived at 10.10pm where members of the local Coastguard team were waiting to assist the casualty.

It returned to the Ferry Road lifeboat station and was refuelled and made ready for service by 10.30pm.

The inshore lifeboat was stood down from its task at 10.20pm and returned to the boathouse where it was refuelled and made ready for service by 10.50pm.

Hartlepool RNLI Lifeboat operations manager Chris Hornsey urged boat users to make sure they had proper means to raise an alarm if they got into difficulty.

He said: “A rapid response from the volunteer crew members meant that the incidents were dealt with quickly.

“I would urge anyone heading out to sea on any craft to please have a proper means of raising the alarm such as a VHF radio or flares and tell someone when you plant to leave and return and to make sure the weather and tides are suitable.”

The RNLI is a charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts.

It operates over 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands.

The charity is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service.