STONEHAVEN RADIO GND to the rescue

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Stonehaven to the Rescue

LAST UPDATED
10 June 2001

STONEHAVEN TO THE RESCUE

In the early hours of Saturday 3 August 1985, the yacht "Surtsey" was in considerable difficulty due to storm damage to her rigging and the subsequent failure of her engine.

At the time, she had fired a flare to attract the attention of a fishing vessel which stood by her, but also called up Buchan Radio (remotely controlled from Stonehaven) on the VHF. Although not actually sending out a MAYDAY or URGENCY message, she requested assistance and was connected to the Aberdeen Coastguard and arrangements were made for the Aberdeen Lifeboat to launch to escort the vessel into port.

Aberdeen Coastguard were unable to make RT contact with either the yacht or the lifeboat using their own equipment, so communications were maintained through Stonehaven Radio's facilities until the Surtsey safely docked.

The following is the text of a letter subsequently received from the yacht's crew:-

"Now that the crew of the "Surtsey" has regained its land legs, I would like to thank you for the help you gave us last weekend.
From the first making contact with the CRS we no longer felt isolated in our difficulties and the pleasant and friendly manner with which we were treated did a great deal to alleviate out discomfort and help us to cope with the problems the storm had given us."