Port St Mary Lifeboat Station - Callouts: 5th September2002.
Weather:cloudly; visibility 'pitch' black night ;Wind: Nor'west force 2
Liverpool Coastguard received a 999 call at just past 21.00 BST. after a man walking on Port St. Mary breakwater discovered a wet and exhausted 16 year old boy clinging to the back of the breakwater.
The boy explained that he had swum to the shoreline from a small 15 foot long day boat, which had broken down some time before and was drifting in the bay with two other friends on board. He estimated he had been in the water for about an hour and he told rescuers that he and his friends had had no method of raising the alarm when they had broken down earlier in the evening. An ambulance was also called to treat the hypothermic lad who was then taken to hospital for further treatment.
The Coastguard immediately alerted the Douglas (which was still on a patrol) and Castletown Coastguard Rescue Teams and Hon. Secretary of the Port St. Mary all weather and inshore lifeboats.
Just after 21:10 BST the ALB, 14-29, "Inner Wheel" slipped her mooring
and headed for sea. Two of her crew who had been on the foredeck dealing with
slipping the mooring chain had heard shouting from a man on the breakwater.
They informed Cox. Dave Richards and he brought the ALB round to the back of
the breakwater. Using search lights and directions from the shore, a second
boy could be seen in the water against the breakwater wall. He was too weak
to assist himself so emergency cox'n Mike Keggin jumped into the water and swam
with the boy back to the lifeboat. The ILB arrived as the lad was being recovered.
He was hypothermic and it was decided he should be put ashore immediately to
the waiting ambulance. The ILB then conducted a search of the length of the
breakwater and its end but couldn't spot the boat or the third youth. The ALB
was landing the second youth ashore as Seaking SAR helicopter, Rescue122, just
airborne was flying from RAF Valley, Angelsey.
The inshore lifeboat proceeded towards the Carrick Rock and then at 21:30 BST using night sights and search lights. The ILB crew located the drifting day boat with the remaining youth on board about a cable distant from the Carrick. The third lad was cold and shaken. He was taken aboard the ILB and taken ashore. Whilst the ALB returned to sea , located the drifting dayboat and placed a crewmember on board in order to take it in tow back to the harbour.
At 21:34 BST SAR helicopter, Rescue122, was stood down when via the ILB crew, the third youth confirmed there were no other individuals involved. Three minutes later he too was landed to the waiting ambulance and the all three lads were taken to hospital.
Both the ALB and ILB were back ready for service at 21:55 BST.
The all three lads were kept in hospital overnight for observation and released the following morning none the worse for their experience. Apparently, they had between them just purchased the boat and had been at sea that afternoon for the first time. When they returned they were told by a fisherman that their outboard engine sounded unreliable. However after tea they had gone back to sea. The outboard had failed whilst they were fishing at the Carrick Rock (approximately 1/2 mile form the harbour). They had no radio, telephone or distress flares. They had oars but no rollocks so using the oars they paddled back towards Port St Mary. They almost made it in but became exhausted paddling against the flood tide and the WNW wind . Close to the breakwater they gave up and started to drift back out towards the Carrick. At what point two of the lads decide to try and swim ashore is not know but it was before darkness came down. With total cloud cover it was pitch black by 20:45 BST.
Spending this amount of time in the water they were all extremely lucky to be discovered. What made the difference was the temperature of the water at this time of year is about 16 degrees Celsius enabling survival of 4 to 6 hours for a clothed adult and the fact that the tide was turning in the Carrick Bay and so the lads swam in slack water. An hour earlier or later and they would have been trying to swim across 0.5 to 1 knot of tidal current.
PLEASE REMEMBER THIS - IF YOU ARE EVER AT SEA AND YOUR BOATS ENGINE BREAKS DOWN - DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO TRY AND SWIM ASHORE (UNLESS YOU CAN PRACTICALLY WADE ASHORE !); STAY WITH YOUR BOAT ; TRY AND ANCHOR ( OR IMPROVISE ONE OR USE A BUCKET OR FISH BOX AS A SEA ANCHOR TO SLOW YOUR DRIFT) AND USE ANYTHING THAT MIGHT RAISE ATTENTION - SHOUTING , FLASHLIGHTS ETC IF YOU DON'T HAVE A RADIO OR DISTRESS FLARES. EVENTUALLY SOMEONE WILL REPORT YOU OVERDUE AND LIFEBOATS AND SAR HELICOPTER BEING EQUIPPED WITH RADAR WILL BE ABLE TO SEARCH AND LOCATE YOU .
Edited 8-Sept -02