LERWICK 1977

    Lerwick 21st July, 1977. SUNDAG MORGON & RASKEN. Coxswain George Leith took the Ramsay Dyce to two Norwegian yachts Sundag Morgon, owned by Karl Gravdal, and the Rasken, owned by Arne Gravdal, left Leirvick, Norway, on a cruise to Shetland. There were seven people on board the two yachts. One of the seven was a woman, the wife of one of the men. The story told by Karl Gravdal was that they had never done any ocean cruising before, only in the fjords of Norway, so they decided to cruise to Shetland. After leaving Norway the wind was southerly for the first 10 hours, then the weather deteriorated with rain and the wind increasing to force five or six and veering westerly, with a swell setting up. The woman on the yacht became very seasick. They tacked against a head wind for the next 10 hours, and came to the conclusion they didn't quite know their position. They saw a vessel coming down on them, from a southerly direction, which turned out to be the oil-related vessel Decca Surveyor, which was on passage to the Brent oil field. They signalled by way of firing a flare mainly to get their exact position. They then found out that they were 48 miles, southeast from the Bard Head. The Decca Surveyor on hearing of the plight of the woman, took her on board, slightly damaging the yacht in doing so, and offered to tow the two yachts up to the Bard Head, which they accepted after stowing their sails. The Decca Surveyor contacted the Lerwick Coastguards, and it was arranged that the lifeboat would rendezvous with them and tow the yachts in, as the Decca Surveyor had a schedule to keep. The Ramsay Dyce left Lerwick with mostly the relief crew as the usual crew was in Kirkwall with their lifeboat the  "Claude Cecil Staniforth" on passage to Lerwick after an overhaul. They telephoned Lerwick from a hostelry in Kirkwall for more details when they heard the news. Contact was made with the vessels 25 miles east of the Bard Head, at 2.00 am. The lifeboat went alongside the Decca Surveyor and took the woman on board, and told the yachts crew to let go so that the lifeboat could take the boats under tow. The crew got the blankets out and fussed over the young woman, who was in her 20s, a schoolteacher in Lerwick. They offered her a drop of brandy from the survivor's bottle, and hot drinks but to no avail - the only thing she wanted was to get ashore. The two yachts were taken in tow, one on each quarter with the port tow longer than the starboard tow to keep them apart. A course was set for Lerwick with the wind fresh westerly with a moderate swell. Between 6.00-7.00 am five miles from the Bard and the swell was running off due to coming up to the land. The woman now was taking more interest in her surroundings so 30 minutes later she came to the wheelhouse to see Shetland. The first thing she asked was: "Is there an airport in Shetland?" When told yes she said she was going to fly back, as she had had enough of the yachts. Once inside the harbour the tow was shortened up and the yachts were moored alongside Victoria Pier in the dock. It was then nearly 9.00 pm. Later that day the cox contacted them and invited them to come to his house which was just up from the pier, and wash any clothes they had and also for a social evening. They stayed for two weeks before returning to Norway, the woman by this time deciding to go back with the yachts. ®

    26th September, 1977. Coxswain George Leith rescued five men and a woman from a ship which had spent 36 hours heading for Lerwick, with a list of 45 degrees, after the huge deck cargo of timber shifted in bad weather. The ship, Fred Everard, was bound from Archangel to the south of France, and the six were rescued towards the end of the trip to Lerwick, just three miles from Lerwick. Captain Vaughan, said that the cargo shifted in very bad weather, about 120 miles north of Muckle Flugga. He decided to send a distress message, which was acknowledged by the P&O vessel Lackenby which agreed to stand by, but continued on her way when the supply boats Oil Mariner and Hergentor arrived on the scene. The two supply vessels stood by the Fred Everard until the Pacific and the Nordzec, the two official tugs arrived, and escorted the Fred Everard to Lerwick. The lifeboat was called out after Captain Vaughan requested the lifeboat to stand by in case the Fred Everard sank, battling through gales of force nine southerly, with a 30 degree list to port. The lifeboat arrived at 1.00 am in the morning in position six miles east by north from the Snap of Fetlar, the weather was very bad, with a heavy southerly swell running, and she was steaming about five knots. The two tugs were about four miles behind, so it was easy to understand why the captain wanted the lifeboat close alongside. Positioned on the port quarter the coxswain spoke to the captain, telling him to advise on the slightest sign of the situation changing for the worse, also for them to switch on as many deck lights as possible. The Fred Everard was dipping her bows in continually with the sea breaking over the deck cargo, and covering the wheelhouse. The captain was frightened the windows would come in. Captain Trevor Vaughan decided that the list was so severe, that there was a danger of the ship sinking. Once south of the Out Skerries the wind gradually started to decrease but the swell remained the same. When only three miles northeast of the Bard Head, the list developed to 45 degrees and appeared to be getting worse. The captain sent out a general Mayday message for more assistance. He thought there was a great possibility of losing his ship. Life jackets were issued by the mate to the crew, but because the Captain still hoped to save his vessel he decided to send ashore only the people not essential to the handling of the ship. The stewards, Mrs Williams and her husband, were taken on board the lifeboat, leaving the captain, mate, second mate, and four deckhands on board the Fred Everard. The woman on board the Fred Everard was Mrs Sheila Williams, wife of the chief engineer, and the Ramsay Dyce had to go alongside three times before she could be persuaded to jump to safety. The lifeboat was slightly damaged when she hit the ship, and the other members of the crew to leave the ship were taken by liferaft, launched from the Fred Everard. The captain was calling the tugs to get them into Lerwick quickly as his engines had now stopped due to the list. The tug Pacific was the first to put a rope onboard but because the Fred Everard capstan had ceased working, after the generators were put out of action, it was not possible to pull the hawser in by hand, and the rope parted. The Norwegian tug Lunde Senior, a newcomer to the scene and smaller than the other two tugs, managed to put a line on board and assisted by the Norwegian lifeboat Skoaniver II towed the Fred Everard into harbour. By the time the two Norwegian vessels had connected the tow, there was quite a number of fishing vessels at the scene. When they started to tow the Fred Everard took a more severe list, and about a quarter of the deck cargo went over the side, losing about 600 cubic metres. That helped to stabilise the Fred Everard and allowed them to tow her stern first into the harbour and alongside the quay. When the deck cargo broke adrift off the Bard the sea was literally a sea of wood. The fishing boats started to move in. Very little of the wood was landed at Lerwick. Every district in Shetland must have been swamped with wood, and the customs were going around the bend. The Ramsay Dyce finally got back to base after 21 hours at sea.®