A broken down fishing boat and her crew were towed safely back into the harbour by Whitby’s all-weather lifeboat.
The small vessel had broken down en route from Scarborough to Whitby and the three crew aboard attempted to anchor, but with the boat starting to drift they decided to contact the coastguard.
The coastguard requested the launch of Whitby RNLI’s Shannon Class lifeboat, which reached the boat near Robin Hood’s Bay and established a tow line.
They towed the vessel back to harbour where there was a short wait for the tide to come in to allow enough water to enter the pier ends.
The call out was the first for crew member Keith Attridge as coxswain. Keith recently qualified as coxswain on the Shannon class lifeboat.
He said: “Incidents like this one just show that anything can happen at sea. Things can change very quickly. Luckily the crew had lifejackets and a radio which meant that the situation was quickly and safely resolved.”
The rescue is the latest in what is already a busy summer for the Whitby crews.
The town’s two lifeboats are made possible from donations and fundraising and one of the Whitby crew’s biggest fundraising events takes place this coming weekend.
Whitby RNLI Flag Weekend takes place just in front of the lifeboat museum which houses the old rowing lifeboat on Saturday and Sunday. There will be stalls and activities for the family including games and cake stalls, and you can meet members of the RNLI crew.
The Auckland Singers will be performing sea shanties, on Saturday the Subaru Drivers Club will be parked on the West Pier and on Sunday the NYLOC (North Yorkshire Lotus Owners Club) will be there.
Raffle tickets are being sold with prizes such as spa breaks, overnight stays, hampers and vouchers having been donated by local businesses. It will be drawn on the Sunday of Flag Weekend, which will finish with a lifeboat demonstration in the harbour at 3pm on Sunday.
Collection buckets will be out over the weekend or you can donate via the station’s Just Giving page here
