Two men rescued from sinking coble in first call-out for Bridlington's new lifeboat

A 10-metre coble, with two crew on board, ran into difficulties six miles off Hornsea and coastguards received a Mayday call just before 2pm.

They reported that the water was covering the deck but they were going to attempt to make their way to Hornsea before the vessel sank.

The HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter based at Humberside was immediately launched, alongside Bridlington Lifeboat and Hornsea Independent Lifeboat.

Coastguards put out an urgent message to all nearby vessels, and a nearby fishing boat responded, arriving at 2.25pmby which time the two men were in the water. Within a few minutes they had the casualties onboard and reported to the coastguard that they were safe and well.

HM Coastguard Senior Maritime Operations Officer, Ryan Douglas said: “These two men did exactly the right thing to notify the Coastguard as soon as their vessel started sinking.

"When heading out to sea you should always make sure you have a means of alerting us if you get into difficulty. We can never get time back – don’t wait for things to improve. You need to inform us as soon as a potentially difficult situation is developing - once things start to go wrong, they can develop rapidly.

“We recommend you carry a Digital Selective Calling (DSC) VHF radio fitted to your vessel. If your DSC Radio is linked to GPS, when you press the distress button, it automatically sends the coastguard your position which is displayed on our charting system.

"HM Coastguard is also happy to receive radio checks from fishing vessels if they wish to check their equipment before heading out to sea.

"You should always have a plan on board for ‘what if?’ and make sure everybody on board knows their part within the plan. In this case, we were able to respond quickly and get these two men safely rescued.”

The new lifeboat, the Antony Patrick Jones arrived in Bridlington in Novembe,r but the crew have not been able to put their skills on the Shannon-class boat to the test until today.