Category: Callouts 2018

Eastbourne all weather lifeboat was tasked on Saturday afternoon to rescue six deep sea anglers 18 miles from harbour when their vessel suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure.   The 28ft vessel based in Sovereign Harbour was 18 miles south of Eastbourne with six people on board when it lost all propulsion. It’s position in the busy shipping lanes of the Dover Strait make it vulnerable to collision from commercial traffic which constantly traverses the area. In less than an hour the volunteer lifeboat crew had assembled and were on scene where a towline was attached to the stricken vessel and...

The volunteer crew of Eastbourne lifeboat were paged at 1.30pm on Friday to assist the largest vessel in the local commercial fishing fleet which had lost all power when its propeller became obstructed.  The 120 tonne Royal Sovereign was working six miles offshore when ropes became entangled around the propeller of the single engine anchoring the vessel to the seabed. Unable to manoeuvre or clear the obstruction the crew had no option but to request assistance. The Royal Sovereign’s sister ship Beachy Head which was also working in the area came to assist and managed to cut Royal Sovereign...

Eastbourne and Dungeness lifeboats were involved in a multi-agency rescue yesterday when an open rib with nine people on board was reported as being in difficulties 26 miles east of Sovereign Harbour.  Earlier in the day, Dungeness and Dover lifeboats, along with coastguard rescue helicopter 163 were tasked to search for the rib in the busy shipping lanes of the English Channel. Once located, the casualties who had been adrift all night in severe weather conditions were in need of urgent medical assessment so to avoid delay in towing the rib back to harbour it was decided to task...