ON a quiet Saturday evening (Nov 19), when all the Burry Port RNLI crew members and partners were thinking of getting ready for the Presentation & Christmas Dinner, their pagers went off.
At 5:06pm, both lifeboats had to be launched to assist two vessels in difficulty close to Blue Pool on Burry Holmes, North Gower.
The D Class inshore lifeboat Diane Hilary with helmsman Gary Morgan and the Atlantic 75 Leicester Challenge II helmed by Darren Sheppard, were on the water by 5:15pm and heading for Burry Holmes. The lifeboats were crewed by Jared Phillips, Kevin Lloyd, Lee Fox, Paul Mitchell and Osian Bowen.
A 21 foot fishing boat and a 21 foot Dory were working together off the Holmes when the Dory had some rope wrapped around its propeller. The fishing vessel took the Dory under tow, but after some heavy surf the towed Dory was smashed into the rear of the towing vessel, causing damage to the transom and the ‘towing’ vessel was taking on water. Both fishing crews were now on board the towing vessel but they decided to drop off two crew members on Broughton Beach and leaving the Dory on anchor.
Both RNLI lifeboats arrived on the scene and the Atlantic was tasked to get a tow on the Dory and the D Class to assess the damage to the fishing boat.
It was decided to tow the Dory back to Burry Port and escort the fishing vessel, with its crew of two, back up the estuary to its moorings in Loughor.
The Dory was towed back but just off Burry Port Harbour it capsized and sank, with an RNLI crew member escaping quickly and losing some vital RNLI equipment in the process. The tow was dropped to recover the crewman, but for safety and with no life at risk, the Dory was abandoned.
In the meantime the D Class had escorted the fishing vessel close to Loughor Bridge where it was safely moored until the rising tide could allow it in to Loughor moorings. UK Coastguard Units were monitoring its situation. The Loughor inshore rescue boats were put on standby later, as the vessel passed under Loughor Bridge heading to its moorings.
Weather conditions caused some recovery problems at Burry Port and eventually there was sufficient water to enter Burry Port Harbour. Both boats were recovered and all crew members safe and sound.
The fishing vessel was safely moored at Loughor and the Dory was recovered on Sunday morning (Nov 20) by its owners.
Meanwhile, the dinner was delayed for at least one hour but they all managed to sit down for food at 9:15pm, 90 minutes later than planned.
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