In the early hours of Wednesday morning (May 14) Ramsgate’s all weather lifeboat launched at the request of HM Coastguard to reports of a Dutch Steel Cruiser, twelve and a half meters in length, in trouble.
The Tamar class Diamond Jubilee launched at 00.39 and headed 1.4 miles south east of Ramsgate, to the stricken boat which had broadcast a Pan Pan emergency call.
The boat was on route from Dover to Ramsgate and had just one person onboard, and on arrival the seriousness of the situation became obvious as there was a shaft seal failure, which was causing copious water ingress. The boat was sinking and there was immediate danger to life.
The owner of the boat Simon later said that he had never been so relieved to see the Lifeboat arrive.
He said: “I’m part of the Ramsgate lifeboat crew, and trained to deputy coxswain level. I spend my life working on boats and have done numerous rescues with the RNLI.
“However, this was the first time I had been the recipient of a rescue. From the moment that I contacted the Coastguard to the actual launch of the lifeboat was such a short time, which I was able to monitor as I was carrying my own lifeboat pager.
“I was expecting some ribbing as they are my fellow crew, but there was none of that. In fact I was impressed by the calm, professional way they got on with the task inhand, setting up a salvage pump and tow line.
“It was a totally different sensation being on the receiving end of a lifeboat rescue, and having heard so many people express their relief and thanks when brought ashore, I can now totally relate to how they feel.”
Having taken the boat under tow, the lifeboat proceeded to the safety of Ramsgate Harbour arriving at 1.45am.
No support these people that help our government bring the country to its knees, so hope funds run dry,rather drown at sea,than see what doing to my kids future !!!
Jan -Could you please rewrite your comment more coherently? Thanks.
Oh, I’m terribly sorry,! I didn’t realize my passionate concerns about our nation’s future needed to meet your personal standards of coherence. How thoughtless of me to express my genuine fears about the destruction of my children’s future without proper punctuation and sentence structure! Next time I’m overcome with emotion about watching our country collapse, I’ll be sure to consult a grammar handbook first. Perhaps you could focus on the actual message rather than critiquing my writing style? But thanks ever so much for your helpful suggestion!