Cefas Endeavour rescues man

The Cefas Endeavour, research vessel for the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), rescued a man with a suspected heart attack from a yacht in stormy conditions off the south-west coast of Cornwall last night (28 April).

At 6 p.m. local time the Endeavour received a Mayday call from the yacht Silent Annie, which was 20 miles away. Other vessels did not reply so the Cefas vessel headed towards the position of the yacht. Mayday calls were repeated every 15 minutes but no other replies were heard and the Endeavour was initially unable to make radio contact with the yacht. The Endeavour issued a distress alert and received a reply from the Falmouth Rescue Centre. The yacht had two people onboard, one complaining of chest pains or suspected angina. The Silent Annie was found on the radar at 5 miles and visual contact was made at 1.5 miles.

A Nimrod aircraft was tasked to the area and a helicopter was sent from Cornwall, re-fuelling on the Isles of Scilly. The weather was not suitable to safely launch a rescue boat. However, once the Endeavour provided a lee for the yacht the crew realised that it could be possible to get the patient onboard on the starboard side. This was done with some good seamanship from the yachtsman. Once the patient was onboard, the Endeavour headed north-east to reduce the distance for the helicopter, which was working at the limit of its range.

The helicopter hovered overhead and lowered a medic onboard to assess the patient’s condition. Both the patient and the medic were lifted off the Endeavour within 15 minutes. The Nimrod made a low pass on its way north as the helicopter headed away. The incident was closed with the Falmouth Rescue Centre by 9 p.m.

Ray Johnson, spokesman for Cefas, said: “Our research vessels don’t normally get involved in such life-and-death operations. But we just happened to be in the right place and the right time. Fortunately we were able to help in a significant way, which is a testament to the crew and our vessel.”

Notes to editors

1. Cefas is an internationally renowned scientific research and advisory establishment. It became an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (formerly MAFF) in 1997. 
2. Cefas undertakes work on fisheries management, environmental protection and aquaculture. It offers a wide range of research, advisory, consultancy, monitoring and training activities to government departments (UK and foreign, central and local), international agencies, commercial companies and aid organisations. For more detail see the Cefas website: /.  
3. Cefas has laboratories and facilities sited at Lowestoft, Weymouth, Burnham-on-Crouch and Whitehaven. It has two sea-going research vessels, the Cefas Endeavour and the Corystes. 
4. Cefas Endeavour carries a comprehensive set of fishing and hydrographic winches and purpose-designed A-frames capable of deploying a wide range of sampling and measuring instruments. It has the latest fisheries and hydrographic echo-sounders and sonars. Dynamic-Positioning is used to control the vessel’s position with precision during research operations.

Press contact: Anne McClarnon 01502 524370 / anne.mcclarnon@cefas.co.uk