HIGHLAND PRESTIGE

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Offshore vessel assisted distressed trawler

On Apr 17, 2017, the "Highland Prestige" assisted the fishing vessel "Charisma - BH 27" with two fishermen on board which was in danger of sinking when it lost power after taking on water. The skipper of the trawler made a distress call to UK Coastguard at 11:20 a.m. after his boat started taking on water which also disabled his engine. The two fishermen on board stemmed the water ingress but couldn't restart their engine, leaving the vessel with her nets still in the water, drifting 12 nautical miles south east of the Tyne piers. Sea conditions were good with only a moderate breeze. The Coastguard's Humber Operations Centre immediately paged Tynemouth RNLI all weather lifeboat which launched seven minutes later, making best best speed to the North Shields-based "Charisma", and due to the risk that the vessel could sink a Coastguard Rescue Helicopter from Humberside was also tasked. The "Highland Prestige" was nearby and stood by the Charisma, ready to assist if the situation worsened. The lifeboat reached the stranded fishing boat at 11:58 a.m., and the volunteer crew assessed the situation. Two of the crew boarded the fishing boat and the lifeboat's portable salvage pump was passed across to them. They pumped the seawater out of the "Charisma" and found that there was no more water entering her. As there was little risk of the boat sinking the Coastguard Rescue Helicopter was stood down while still en-route. The fishing vessel was now out of immediate danger but the lifeboat was unable to tow her and her crew to safety while her nets were in the water so the lifeboat crew and fishermen attempted to retrieve them by getting power to the fishing boat's winch. The nets were brought back on to the "Charisma" at 1 p.m., and the fishermen had managed to restart their engine as a result of attempting to get power to the winch so instead of towing her the lifeboat escorted her back to North Shields as a precaution against her taking on water or her engine stopping again. The lifeboat and the "Charisma" arrived safely at North Shields fish quay at 3.05 p.m. and once the fishing boat was on the quay the lifeboat refuelled and returned to station, arriving at 3.30pm, four hours after launching. Report with photos: https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2017/april/17/fishing-vessel-in-danger-of-sinking-assisted-by-tynemouth-rnli-lifeboat