Tag Archives: “Mayday!”
Hull’s Quiet Disaster: The Christmas Day Tragedy of St. Finbarr
St Finbarr’s final trip was plagued by bad luck from the start. She took 14 days battling atrocious weather to get to Newfoundland’s Grand Banks, a trip usually done in half that time. Electrical faults reported from previous trips caused three delays before she even set sail from Hull’s St Andrew’s Dock on 16 November 1966. Ironically, it was St Andrew’s Day (the patron saint of fishermen), 30 November, when she reached the Newfoundland fishing grounds on her thirteenth and final trip. She had endured 38 days of foul weather, from Yorkshire’s Spurn Point to the storm-lashed grounds of the Grand Banks. Skipper Tommy Sawyer, a hard taskmaster, pushed his ship and her crew to the limit, 8 Photos, >click to read< 14:22
‘Definitely the most difficult rescue I have been on’ recalls a rescuer of F/V Atlantic Destiny crew
Daniel Domonkos will always remember the moment he and his SAR tech crew first laid eyes on the ill-fated F/V Atlantic Destiny a year ago. Seeing the stricken vessel being tossed around in the waves “like a little toy,” the flight engineer immediately wondered, “How are we supposed to get anyone off that boat?” And not just one person, but 31 of them. It was a miraculous scene that later played out at the Yarmouth International Airport as crew members of the Atlantic Destiny and their rescuers stepped out of helicopters to safety, the warmth of those moments only interrupted by the bone-chilling bitter cold. Photos, Video, >click to read< 08:08
Fisherman saved by OSU research vessel when his fishing vessel went down in heavy seas
Frank Akers, 70-year-old owner and operator of the 50-foot F/V Lanola, said he was about 38 miles west of Newport heading eastbound in heavy seas at about 10 p.m. on Aug. 28, when the first of a series of waves collided with his vessel, giving him only minutes to escape. Akers said he believes the first wave that struck the vessel had a log in it because he heard a crash. After the second wave hit, he looked back and saw his stern go under. His bilge alarms went off and he radioed a mayday call. >click to read< 21:06
Mayday call likely a hoax, search off Maine coast suspended
The Coast Guard said it has called off its search for three fishermen in the water off the Maine coast because the mayday call was likely a hoax. The mayday call said a 42-foot fishing boat was taking on water off the coast of Spruce Head in Knox County and the three crew members were putting on survival suits before going into the water. No name of the vessel was given in the mayday call. (no EPIRB alert) >click to read< 14:31
Mayday – Mayday – Mayday: Tuna boat throws curveballs to new owners
The last thing any fisherman ever wants to do is place a mayday call because their boat is sinking, but for Capt. Adam Hall and the F/V Tommy John, that’s exactly what happened late in the night on Saturday, July 25, about a 20-hour voyage off the south Washington coast. Hall and boat co-owner Greg Surgener of Southern California-based Surgener Fisheries sank big dollars into purchasing the Tommy John, moored at the time in San Diego. The duo wanted to find a boat to tuna and crab fish and felt the 50-footer was the right fit for their needs. Named for retired four-time Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher Tommy John, nicknamed “The Bionic Man,” the vessel was specifically built for tuna 40 years ago. >click to read< 08:48
Fishing Crews Urged To Avail Of Safety Training After Dramatic Irish Sea Rescue
RNLI fishing safety manager Frankie Horne has urged the fishing community to avail of safety training that is on offer for their crews and to ensure that their safety equipment is up to date. It comes after the skipper of a fishing vessel that sank late last year off the Isle of Man has attributed their rescue to the safety training the crew had undertaken previously and to their lifejackets (PFDs), which were fitted with personal locator beacons (PLBs). >click to read< 13:22
Coast Guard, good Samaritan rescue 2 fishermen after boat capsizes in the Gulf
The Coast Guard and a good Samaritan rescued two boaters Thursday after their 25-foot boat capsized 50 miles west of Naples. Rescued were Frederick Cunningham, 42, and James Nipper, 48.
At 5:56 a.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg received a Mayday via VHF-FM radio channel 16 from a man stating, “Mayday, Mayday – this is the vessel…” but the transmission was lost. Two additional calls from the same man were received but no usable information could be heard. At 7:48 a.m., Coast Guard Seventh District command center watchstanders received an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon alert from the 25-foot commercial fishing boat. >click to read<19:16
Fisherman’s last stand: No one could save the captain who refused to abandon his boat
It sounded like a plane crash, a shuddering boom and scraping of metal as the Fisherman’s Provider II rammed up on Frying Pan Shoal, a lurking hunk of rock in the Atlantic Ocean, about two kilometres off Canso, N.S. The boat had pulled away from the wharf of the historic fishing village just a few hours before, geared up for a four- or five-day trip of catching halibut. Now she was in trouble. Stuck fast, while her crew — Roy Campbell, Anthony Cooke and Brian Sinclair —were panicking. The three men had been in their bunks and were jolted awake upon impact.,, The men wrestled into their survival suits, deploying the life raft, calling 911 and hollering for their captain, Roger Lynn Stoddard, to forget about the damn boat, put his suit on, get in the raft and come with them. But Stoddard wasn’t budging. And he wasn’t panicked. He was at the helm, reversing the vessel, trying to work her off the rocks,,, Big story >click to read<15:18
Crewmember says sinking of Lady Wallace happened very fast, training helped save crew
A crewmember aboard the Lady Wallace says it is difficult to find the words to come close to describing how traumatizing a situation it is when a lobster vessel turns from a stable, comfortable place to be on the water, to a near deathtrap in moments. Read the rest here 19:26
