April 2019

As a lifeboat crew member, you never know what is going to happen during the 9 hours that you are on watch. What can seem to be a quiet, uneventful day on the Solent, can quickly turn into one of the toughest days you will ever get.  That is exactly what happened to us on 6 April 2019 – a date that I will never forget. 

The day began for us in the usual way – boat maintenance,equipment checks, a brief on the local conditions, events in the Solent and a Risk Assessment for the day based on what we thought might be a likely tasking.  As April is the start of the ‘summer season’ we tend to think more about potential mechanical issues. With boats being in the water for the first time that year leading to fires and floods, injuries from inexperienced crew members and the possibility of groundings. 

April 6^th was a significant day for the service too – our Senior coxswain, Brian, had decided to step down from regular duties to spend more time with his young family. Whilst he would remain senior coxswain, he would only be reacting to pager shouts from then on.  To mark this, during our routine patrol of the Solent, we stopped off at Cowes and picked up some fish and chips. We then went off to do some manoeuvring and a man overboard drill in Southampton Water.  At about 1600 we were back alongside Hamble quay. We debriefed, cleaned up the lifeboat station and prepared the boat for the pager crew that evening. 

Minutes before our duty was due to end, with the switch to pager crew imminent, a shout came in. A person in the water at the North end of Southampton Water.  Our coxswain proceeded at speed out of the River Hamble and up Southampton Water. Whilst on route, I was ‘on comms’ with Solent Coastguard passing tasking info to the crew, talking through possible scenarios and prepping the kit that we would likely need on scene.

On arrival, we saw the local Coastguard Rescue team on the shore, with helicopter ‘Rescue 175’ overhead. Between them, they vectored us onto the casualty in the water.  It was low water. The casualty was in the shallows. Recovery was going to be difficult.  After an attempt to deploy a crewmember into the water failed due to the amount of mud in the vicinity, our coxswain made the difficult decision to run the boat aground.This enabled us to get as close as possible to the casualty, who was face down in the water.  I pulled the casualty from the water. Once in the boat, I immediately started CPR, whilst the remaining crew members grabbed the defibrillator and oxygen.  We were joined by a member of the SCAS Hazardous Area Response Team (HART). What ensued was 40 minutes of the most amazing teamwork; getting the boat off the mud, working on the casualty and eventually handing over to the HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) team ashore. 

It was only then that we started to think about what had just happened, but with a boat that needed some urgent maintenance (removing thick mud from the filters) prior to being able to safely transit back to Hamble, we still had considerable work to do. 

I first saw the picture below at our Crew annual review.  Until then, I had no idea that it had even been taken! To me, it sums up how we all felt after that job.  I’m not going to try to describe that feeling. I think the picture tells it all.  

Needless to say, I could not have worked with a better crew that day. 

Five weeks later, when 3 of the 4 crew involved walked around the Isle of Wight raising money for the lifeboat, we had an opportunity to discuss how we all felt after the incidentand how it had affected us all individually.  I am grateful for the support provided to me by my colleagues and also the TRiM (Trauma Risk Management) process which I went through. As a result, I have now trained as a TRiMPractitioner – the first for Hamble Lifeboat, so that I will be able to offer my lifeboat colleagues the same level of support that I received in any future traumatic incidents.