Distress call alerts emergency services to vessel in danger

On Friday 20 ^{June 2025, HM Coastguard received a pan pan radio call from a pleasure boat in danger in the Ribble Estuary. A pan pan call is one down from a mayday call in terms of danger to life.}

An 8.22m motor cruiser had sailed from Preston Dock with two crew heading out for the Irish Sea when engine / gearbox failure caused the vessel to drift over the Vee Wall at Lytham before she could be anchored. The stone Vee Wall, underwater at high tide, is at the confluence of the Gut Channel and what remains of the North Channel of the Ribble and was constructed in the early 20^{th Century as a training wall to control the tidal flow into these channels.}

Apart from the stone of the wall, there is a large number of stone blocks on the sea bed in the area and if the casualty vessel had been left to sit down on these at low water, she would have been seriously damaged and not likely to rise to the next incoming flood tide. The vast tidal range of the Irish Sea, second only to the Bristol Channel, leaves no margin for mishap or error for any vessel caught out in an emergency.

The Coastguard immediately tasked the Lytham St Annes Inshore Lifeboat (ILB) to investigate the casualty vessel and help if necessary. The sea charity’s ILB was launched shortly after 8pm with Rob Ansell in charge as Helm and Will Bridge and Dale Bridge as crew.

Going alongside the motor cruiser, Dale was placed aboard to assess the situation. It rapidly became clear that the vessel’s engine could not be repaired, and the only option left was to tow the vessel from her precarious location to a place of safety away from the submerged stones of the Vee Wall before the ebb tide set her down on top of them, endangering the yachtsmen’s lives on board. The casualty vessel was unable to help herself and the weather was forecast to deteriorate overnight.

The ILB MOAM towed the motor cruiser away from the Vee Wall to a safe anchorage opposite the Lytham Jetty where she could lie in relative safety until a ‘get you home’ outboard motor could be brought down and fitted the following morning, enabling the vessel to make her own way back to Preston Dock.

At the same time as the casualty yacht was being rescued, a second motor cruiser had been seen leaving the estuary. As the Coastguard were initially unsure which was the vessel in danger, they requested the assistance of the Lytham St Annes All-weather Lifeboat (ALB).

The crew were paged to launch the relief Shannon class lifeboat John Metters (on duty while the Barbara Anne is at RNLI Poole for repairs). The crew assembled but were then placed on standby, rather than an immediate launch, as the situation slowly became clearer. After 25 minutes the ALB launch was cancelled and the crew could return to their Friday night.

Paul Little, Lifeboat Operations Manager (LOM) later said:

‘The casualty vessel would not have survived being set down on the stones at low water, putting the two on board in great danger. Our volunteer lifeboat crew are always ready to respond to the call for help, whenever it comes in.

‘Where there is a risk to life and no other means of deescalating the danger, our lifeboat crews may have to tow a vessel in order to save lives at sea.’

RNLI media contacts

For more information, please contact David Forshaw, Lytham St Annes Lifeboat Press Officer on 07904 685 206 / [email protected]

Alternatively, you can contact Claire Fitzpatrick-Smith, RNLI Regional Communications Manager on 07977 728315 / [email protected] or the RNLI Press Office on 01202 336789.

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