RNLI Rescues.

[Frankie Price]

I have always supported the RLI as often as I can as a way of saying thanks for their rescues in times past.
It got me thinking about how little we hear from individuals who have been on the receiving end of the big blue and orange boat, so on behalf of this year's YD fund raiser I propose that anyone can post their rescue story for a donation to the YD fund.

I would like to start the ball rolling for Ten Quid with my story.

Back in the 1960s the small harbour at Rhyl in North Wales was shaking off the austerity of the fifties and developing a thriving deep sea angling fleet of small and medium motor boats.
Business was brisk and by 1964 my father was thinking of up-sizing from a sixteen foot Rana with Seagull outboard to an ex-navy thirtytwo foot cutter with Kitchen rudder.
Upon receipt into Rhyl in 1965 the cutter was given the once over and measured up for a cabin and all of the other paraphernalia required by the anglers.
Following completion of the cabin and installation of the new chandlery the day of the sea trial dawned and CH187 Sultan rose to the occasion.
So with due diligence the skipper (my father) and small crew of two set out into a lumpy force four-five Irish sea.
Running fairly close to shore and with a stiff on-shore breeze the boat was nosed in and out of the white caps and swell to test the soundness of the new cabin. However, while checking the engine with the watertight cover open, a large wave swamped the engine compartment and shut off the engine.
"Not a problem" said my father, "throw the anchor and hold her into the swell while we sort out the engine". The anchor was duly thrown followed by fifteen feet of best Black Country chain and the following new nylon rope stayed put, nicely cheesed in its hold. In their haste they hadn't tied the rope to the chain. So out wth the spare anchor.... Hold on, the one that is in the back of the landrover on shore? Yep thats the one.
Oh shit, force five, on-shore and drifting towards the Rhyl beach groins, disater awaits.
So out with the flairs communal prayers! (No radios on boats in those days)
First flair is hardly hot in the sky when the welcome 'crack' of the lifeboat station maroons is heard and RNLB Anthony Robert Marshall is launched.
In next to no time the life boat is on the case and heading to the now perilously close to disaster Sultan and her crew who are at this point on the verge of beaching somewhere near the east end of Prestatyn.
With the combined skils of a well versed RNLI crew Anthony Robert Marshall soon had Sultan in tow and proceeded to return her to the calm of Rhyl harbour as captured below by the photographer from The Rhyl Journal.
Seems only a minor incident but we could have been looking at four kids with no parents as my mother was one of the two crew that day. The second crew member was my grandfather.
rnil.JPG

Details of the second encounter between Anthony Robert Marshall and Sultan to follow later. "The Longest Night".