Drama at sea: Cefas Endeavour rescues sick man

The Cefas Endeavour, one of two sea-going research vessels used by Cefas for its scientific research, rescued a man with a suspected heart attack from a yacht in stormy conditions 207 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly Wednesday night, 28 April.

The six-hour rescue operation started after a Mayday message was received from the yacht Silent Annie over the VHF radio. The yacht was too far out for the Falmouth Rescue Centre to register her distress call and other vessels did not reply so the Cefas vessel headed towards the position of the yacht. The Cefas Endeavour was initially unable to make radio contact with the Silent Annie. The Cefas vessel issued a distress alert and received a reply from the Falmouth Rescue Centre, which sent a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter from 771 Squadron at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall to the area. A Nimrod aircraft from RAF Kinloss in Scotland was also sent as a communication link and to provide cover in case anything went wrong with the helicopter. The Silent Annie was found on the Cefas Endeavour’s radar at 5 miles and visual contact was made at 1.5 miles.

The yacht had two people onboard, one complaining of chest pains and suspected angina. The weather was not suitable to safely launch a rescue boat. However, once the Cefas Endeavour provided a lee for the yacht the crew realised that it could be possible to get the patient onboard on the starboard side. The crew recovered the sick man using one of Cefas Endeavour’s rigid inflatable boats. Once the patient was onboard the Cefas Endeavour headed north-east to reduce the distance for the helicopter, which was working at the limit of its range.

The helicopter lowered a medic onboard to assess the patient’s condition. Within 15 minutes both the patient and the medic were airlifted off the Cefas Endeavour and were flown to the Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske. The condition of the 53-year-old British male patient, from Nottingham, has since been described as comfortable and stable.

There were nine scientists onboard the Cefas Endeavour (all based at the Cefas Lowestoft laboratory) and 18 crew members. The Cefas Endeavour left Lowestoft on 24 April to undertake scientific surveys on mackerel plankton and other species such as hake, cod and crabs.

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.”