The mostly volunteer crew of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Barry dock lifeboat had a Friday night out with a difference last night as they were called on to rescue a 62foot barge that had broken down by the Severn Bridge.
The call for help came just before 7pm as most of the crew would have been settling down for a relaxing evening with their loved ones. Instead, they spent four hours of their evening assisting the barge and her experienced crew who had been unlucky and broken down as they headed home to Portishead.
The Portishead lifeboat and her crew were already on scene and giving assistance, but their inshore boat was not able to tow the barge. Barry Dock Lifeboat Station’s much bigger Trent class lifeboat was more than capable of helping out and returned to station just before 11pm after leaving the barge in the safely of Portishead harbour.
