A seven-metre fishing vessel, which was taking on water about 1.5 miles north-west of St. Ann’s Head, was towed to safety by Angle RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat on Friday afternoon (July 29).

The casualty vessel, with two people on board, had machinery failure and was being towed in by another fishing vessel when her bilge alarm was activated.

Concerned that the vessel’s own bilge pumps were not coping, assistance was requested and Angle’s Tamar class lifeboat Mark Mason was launched at 2.34 pm.

The two crewmen, meanwhile, had abandoned on to the assisting fishing vessel and stood off.

The lifeboat was on the scene in four minutes and transferred two crew members and a salvage pump to the casualty vessel to pump the water out. Once the water was emptied, the owner re-boarded the vessel to assess for damage.

With no more water ingress, a tow was rigged by the lifeboat and the casualty vessel was taken to the Mackerel Stage at Milford Docks.

Once the casualty vessel was berthed alongside the pontoon, the lifeboat was released to return to her station, where she was rehoused just before 5 pm.