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This
item was received from Chris Allman - Deputy Launch Authority of the New Brighton
Lifeboat - "ROCK LIGHT" records the involvement of the lifeboat in
the Twelve Quays Incident last summer. The lifeboat's important role in
securing the errant walkway section knocked into the river by MERSEY VIKING
was over looked by media reports at the time. - J.H.L.
RNLI
NEW BRIGHTON WEB SITE
I
appreciate that this incident was some 5 months ago, however I have only just
found your article on the incident on the Irish Sea Shipping Site.
You
mention both the '
County
Rescue
' - Inshore Rescue Boat ( not
lifeboat ) and the tug OAKGARTH, however you make no mention of the R.N.L.I. New
Brighton Lifeboat, ROCK LIGHT which also played a major part in the incident.
I
am a Deputy Launching Authority for the New Brighton Lifeboat and
was present at that launch and assisted the subsequent service
to the Twelve Quays.
We
were requested by H.M. Coastguard to launch immediately to rescue persons
trapped on part of the collapsed structure. On the arrival of ROCK LIGHT at
the scene, the County Rescue Boat had already managed to reach the
trapped persons having made from the Liverpool Landing Stage, ( almost
opposite the scene ).
The
Helmsman of ROCK LIGHT, having made sure that no further lives were in danger,
commenced a search for the very large section of walkway which had fallen into
the
Mersey
. It was found barely awash
and heading straight for Seacombe Ferry Landing Stage in the strong ebb tide.
A
line was immediately attached and ROCK LIGHT with some difficulty managed
to tow the very large structure clear of the Ferry Landing Stage, which had it
been struck by the walkway would without doubt been seriously damaged.
ROCK LIGHT
then held onto the structure which
was being dragged down river and barely managed to hold it steady opposite
Wallasey
Town Hall
,whilst it awaited the arrival of
the OAKGARTH which had been summoned to assist. The structure was
finally handed over to OAKGARTH which towed it into the Liverpool
Dock System.
Without
taking any appreciation away from the very good work of the County Rescue
Boat, I would like to point out the very good work also carried out by
the New Brighton Lifeboat, ROCK LIGHT, which by its detection and subsequent
diversion of the walkway from its path into the Seacombe Landing Stage,
prevented serious damage to both the landing stage and to the walkway itself.
ROCK LIGHT
also prevented a seriously large 'danger to navigation ' wreaking
havoc on the
Mersey
, and the possible consequences
that would have caused, with another very large ferry inbound into the
Mersey
at the time.
As
you will be aware the RNLI relies entirely on Public Contributions and these
are often made as a result of the publicity surrounding incidents of
lives being saved and incidents such as the Twelve Quays incident. The crews
of all our Lifeboats are volunteers as was the crew of ROCK LIGHT
on
the 3rd August 2003
,willing to go out in all
weathers at any time of the year.
We
are a busy Lifeboat Station at New Brighton having answered 51 calls to date
this year, and suffer I am afraid from a distinct lack of publicity, no matter
how hard we try to interest the press in our Services. I understand that you
may have received your information from a source who may not have known of our
involvement in the incident, however I would ask that, as a contributor of
many interesting items and photographs of local maritime news, that the New
Brighton Lifeboat and its very loyal and brave crew could be
considered for mention in the future.
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