Crowds had gathered at the Yorkshire seaside town of Redcar to watch lifeboat volunteers carry out a demonstration rescue on Saturday, 1 July.
It was all part of an RNLI Flag Day fund-raising campaign, but the onlookers were treated to more than they had expected when the crews were called to respond to a real-life Mayday call – from a boat skipper who had lost contact with his wreck-divers.
At 1.13pm the volunteers’ pagers sounded and the crews of the Atlantic 85 Leicester Challenge III and D-class inshore lifeboat (ILB) Eileen May Loach-Thomas were tasked with finding four divers who had been diving the wreck of the Dimitris, a cargo ship that sank off the Redcar coast in 1953.
Visibility was good, with a moderate breeze and choppy sea conditions, as the two lifeboats headed out and began their search. While exciting for the crowds to witness a genuine shout, it turned out not to be the most challenging of rescues for the volunteers.
“Once we arrived at the area, we commenced a search and located all four divers within a few minutes,” said Cameron Bond, the ILB’s helmsman. “We got all the divers into the lifeboats and returned them safely to shore.”
“The crowds that had come to the seafront to see our Flag Day rescue demonstration actually got to see the real thing,” commented Redcar RNLI chairman Dave Cocks. “It was a perfect example of a well-executed rescue operation with all four casualties being returned safely to shore. A job well done.”
Redcar’s is one of the oldest lifeboat stations in the RNLI – in operation since 1802, it marked 200 years of rescues last year. Nearby is the Zetland Lifeboat Museum: the Zetland, the world’s oldest surviving lifeboat, was built the same year as Redcar Lifeboat Station and saved more than 500 lives before being retired in 1880.
Also on Divernet: Behind the scenes at the RNLI HQ, Wreck diver rescued off Dorset, Oban lifeboat rescues unconscious freediver, Kyarra wreck-diver requires airlift, Freediver rescued off Devon
