Helmsdale fishing boat helps lifeboat after Pan Pan message sent

In the early hours of yesterday morning, Wick Lifeboat responded to a "state of urgency" message sent by Shetland Coastguard on behalf of a fishing vessel.

The volunteer crew were paged by Shetland Coastguard at 12.36am yesterday (January 25) after the coastguard had broadcast a Pan Pan message on behalf of the 8.5m fishing vessel.

The radiotelephony message Pan Pan is the international standard urgency signal that someone aboard a boat, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle uses to declare that they have a situation that is urgent, but for the time being, does not pose an immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself. This is referred to as a state of "urgency" and is distinct from a mayday call (distress signal), which means that there is imminent danger to life or to the continued viability of the vessel itself.

With no other vessels responding to HM Coastguard's Pan Pan message, Wick's all-weather lifeboat, Roy Barker II, launched with a crew of seven at 12.45am and proceeded to the position given by the casualty vessel. The vessel was located approximately 6nm east of Helmsdale and had experienced machinery failure, and had limited battery power remaining.

As such, the vessel was experiencing problems using its fixed VHF. In an effort to conserve what little battery power remained, the vessel phoned the coastguard on a mobile phone to request assistance, and then utilised a handheld VHF.

A RNLI spokesperson said: "By the time Wick lifeboat arrived at the scene, the vessel's navigation lights were very dim and difficult to see. The lifeboat volunteers utilised all available kit onboard the lifeboat to locate the vessel including radar, VHF direction finder, binoculars and a night vision image intensifier.

"Wick lifeboat arrived at the casualty vessel at approximately 1.50am and communication was established directly with the vessel's skipper. Following a review from the coxswain, it was agreed to tow the vessel to the nearest safe haven of Helmsdale."

At Helmsdale, a local fishing vessel put to sea to assist the crew by towing the casualty into the harbour.

"The crew of Wick lifeboat are incredibly grateful to the support given by another local vessel – putting to sea in the middle of the night to help a fellow fisherman," added the RNLI spokesperson.

Wick lifeboat departed Helmsdale at 4.15am, returning to Wick Harbour at 6am where the vessel was refuelled and made ready for service once again by 7am.

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