A 65-metre Dutch dredger, which was taking in water off the South Pembrokeshire coast, was escorted to safety on Friday night (5 March) by Angle’s RNLI all-weather lifeboat.
The Tamar class RNLI lifeboat, Mark Mason, was launched just before 5.30pm to go to the aid of the Rotterdam-registered hopper dredger Heron, of 949 gross tons. There were five men on board.
When the lifeboat reached the casualty, six miles off St Anne’s Head, it was found the Heron was listing to port with water flooding her hold. Two of the RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew, Mervyn Lunn (assistant mechanic) and Derek Richards, took a salvage pump on board in a bid to stabilise the stricken vessel. A Milford Haven Port Authority launch also put a pilot on board the dredger, which was eventually stabilised enough for her to be given permission to safely enter the Milford Haven Waterway. The Heron was then escorted to the entrance to Milford Docks, where a tug assisted her to berth.
The RNLI lifeboat, commanded by Coxswain Jerry Rees, remained outside the Docks on the Fishermen’s Wharf, until Mervyn Lunn and Derek Richards were able to leave the dredger and return, by van, with the RNLI pump. The lifeboat, whose crew also included Richard Roch (mechanic), Adam Seaton (assistant mechanic), Mark Lynas (helmsman) and Michael Young, returned to her station at 10.30pm. It was the first call-out of the year for the Mark Mason, which had only returned to the station on Wednesday (3 March), after undergoing engine repairs at RNLI headquarters at Poole. In her absence, the Tamar lifeboat, Edward and Barbara Prigmore, was on relief duty there.
