All night mission for Stromness RNLI

Stromness lifeboat is back in Stromness after an all-night rescue north-west of Orkney.

The crew were paged at just before 10pm on Friday night to help a 20 metre fishing boat, Aquarius, whose gearbox had failed to the northwest of Noup Head, Westray. There were 6 crew onboard the fishing vessel, and conditions were breezy with a high swell from the west.

Getting regular updates on the position of the Aquarius from the Coastguard, the lifeboat arrived on the scene at 12.30am. A long towrope was attached and the lifeboat began to tow the boat towards Orkney at 2 knots, the fastest safe speed given the 5-6 metre waves.

According to the Stromness RNLI, chafe on the towline was a problem and the tow had to be shortened several times. The crew requested the tug Herakles be sent by the Coastguard to tow the Aquarius. She arrived at 4am and attempted to pass a tow to the fishing boat, but it was decided to continue with the tow from the lifeboat until another fishing boat could take over.

The fishing boat Discovery arrived at 7.45am and put a wire tow on-board the Aquarius and began the tow south to Scrabster, leaving the lifeboat and the Coastguard tug to return to port.

Video footage of the rescue can be found here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pgz2lAQh1c&feature=youtu.be