EDWARD HENRY

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Fishing vessel distressed off Shetland

The Aith RNLI lifeboat was called to the aid of the "Edward Henry - DH 100" which had lost power off the Shetland islands with eight crew members on board on March 14, 2017. It had called for help after it was hit by a wave which struck its bridge and was flooded about 60 miles west of Sumburgh. Skipper Wrublennski raised the alarm after not being able to hear anything from the rest of the crew. THe wave just hit on the long side, on the starboard side. It took off the windows and damaged the electronic devices, taking him across the wheelhouse and I found myself after a second or two seconds on the port side. There was glass and wood floating in water in the wheelhouse. The RNLI's Aith lifeboat launched at about 8:20 p.m., and a Coastguard helicopter from Sumburgh were deployed to assist. The lifeboat was slowed down to 10 knots by heavy seas in winds of eight Beaufort. The helicopter was replaced by another one from Stornoway aat 10.30 p.m. The crab boat had three broken windows in the wheelhouse and a broken electronic navigation system, but the crew of the vessel had managed to re-start the engines. As it had no working navigation system, the decision was taken for the lifeboat to guide it back to Scalloway harbour where it arrived safely around 7.15 a.m. on March 15, accompanied by the Aith Lifeboat and the anchor handling vessel "Nor Solan". The crab boat’s skipper had suffered a minor injury, and all of the crew were seen by paramedics when they arrived in Scalloway. It was 11 aa.m. by the time the RNLI vessel was able to return to its station - more than 14 hours after it was called out. Reports with photo: http://www.shetnews.co.uk/news/14203-lifeboat-and-chopper-assist-crab-boat http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-39273224