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While Tobermory Lifeboat’s Press Officer crew member was on holiday – shouts came rolling in

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Dr Sam Jones, one of the volunteer crew of the Tobermory lifeboat, Elizabeth Fairlie Ramsey and its Press Officer, actually took a holiday.

While she was away, the Severn class lifeboat and her colleagues in the crew had a busy time, carrying out – within ten days – five rescues , two appearances at local events and then a street-based first response assistance to a visitor who became ill in the Tobermory’s Main Street.

When she came back she not only discovered how much she had to catch up with – and we are grateful to her for all of the information – but she found out that she herself had been a focus of some of the crew’s activity in her absence. Read on.

What a narrative

This manic period for the Tobermory lifeboat was prefaced on 22nd – 23rd July by a serious technical failure affecting Stornoway Coastguard’s VHF, MF and DSC communications along the west coast from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis to Malin Head on the north coast of Ireland on 22/23 July.

Members of the lifeboat crew supported the Tobermory Coastguard Rescue team in monitoring local VHF frequencies, including the distress channel [Channel 16] from the masts at Cnoc Fuar near Glengorm, about three miles outside Tobermory.

Whilst up at the masts, local Coastguard James Henderson and Tobermory Coxswain Andrew McHaffie were called on to administer first aid to a young woman who had fallen from a skateboard and sustained injuries to her leg, arm and shoulder.

Just a few minutes after a shift changeover at the masts on the morning of 23rd July, the pagers summoned Coxswain Andrew and his volunteer crew to a yacht off the Treshnish Isles taking on water. On arriving at the scene, Second Mechanic Creon Carmichael was put aboard the yacht to carry out a damage assessment. Although he was able to stem the water ingress, a decision was taken to tow the yacht to Tobermory for repairs.

The following evening, Thursday 24th July, volunteer crew man Simon ‘Tomo’ Thomasson, witnessed an accident on the CalMac pier in Tobermory. He and Coxswain Andrew provided casualty care to the young man who had fallen from the pier and had sustained injuries to his head, nose and feet. He was then transferred to the care of the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Just a few days later, the volunteer crew was tasked to go to the aid of a 42 foot yacht with engine problems and which was becalmed off Ardnamurchan. Although the yacht was already being towed by another yacht, the lifeboat took over the tow to recover the casualty vessel to a mooring in Tobermory Bay.

On Friday 1st August, the volunteer crew and lifeboat made their annual visit to the West Ardnamurchan Regatta at Kilchoan where visitors and locals alike were able to explore Tobermory’s Severn class lifeboat. [Members of the crew had attended the Uisken Games organised by the Ross of Mull and Iona RNLI Fundraising Branch the previous weekend.]

The following day, 2nd August, the crew participated in a training exercise with the Royal Navy’s search and rescue helicopter, Rescue 177, in the Sound of Mull.

Just half an hour after finishing the exercise, the crew’s pagers went off yet again and they were called to go to the aid of a single handed yachtsman with severe abdominal pains and vomiting in Loch Sunart. The crew, including local nurse, Mhairi McAdam, were able to provide casualty care to the yachtsman and stabilise his condition before he was evacuated by Stornoway Coastguard’s search and rescue helicopter, Rescue 100.

But the weekend didn’t end there.

Coxswain Andrew and Deputy Second Mechanic Paul ‘Gunny’ Gunn were alerted by a former Honorary Secretary, Robert Macleod, to a small motor boat and its mooring drifting out of Tobermory Bay. Together with volunteer crew member, Robert Norman Macleod, they managed to recover the boat and mooring using the boarding boat [a former D Class lifeboat] and place it on a casualty mooring.

In a double twist of irony, the casualty boat belonged to – Dr Sam Jones herself, who at that precise moment was on holiday in London – viewing an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum on sea safety and the 500th anniversary of Trinity House. Her boat obviously did not care to be left behind and was setting off for a holiday – not a break – of its own.

Tobermory RNLI Coxswain Andrew McHaffie says: ‘This time of year is particularly busy for the station, not only with the number of shouts but also training exercises and commitments at a number of local events.

‘I’m conscious that for many of our volunteers this is also a busy time in their personal and professional lives, yet they are always ready to respond, be it to go to the aid of individuals or vessels requiring assistance, to turn up for training or to attend local events and represent the RNLI.’

An then – on the afternoon of Wednesday 6th August,  the Tobermory lifeboat’s crew responded to an incident on the Main Street,  following a report that a visitor had been taken ill.

The crew members took medical equipment from the lifeboat station, including oxygen and a defibrillator to the scene and provided casualty care until the arrival of a local doctor and the Scottish Ambulance Service. The visitor was taken by ambulance to the doctor’s surgery where he underwent a series of checks.

Coxswain Andrew McHaffie says: ‘We’re pleased to hear that the visitor was given the all clear and that he has been able to resume his holiday with his wife. Almost all of the crew have undertaken the RNLI’s casualty care course and indeed just the previous night we had a training session on the lifeboat dealing with a medical scenario.’

In a place like Argyll where the water defines the territory, dictates and enables the variety of activities that take place in and on the water, the pattern of engagement of our lifeboats in assistances puts together a fascinating mosaic.

We are very lucky to have the skilled and dedicated RNLI volunteer crews and the lifeboats  – as are all of those who venture on the water for leisure, commerce or duty.


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