HMS Middleton Answers Fishing Boat's Mayday Emergency Call

HMS Middleton has responded to a mayday call from a fishing boat which had become tangled in a line and was left drifting in the English Channel.

Responding to the call at 16:00 on Saturday the Royal Navy ship coordinated with the Solent Coastguard to see how they could help.

Passing St Catherine's Point, south of the Isle of Wight, the fishing boat got into trouble after a line had wrapped around its propeller, leaving the vessel adrift too close to shore in shallow waters.

After spotting the ship the minehunter launched her seaboat with divers and marine engineers aboard, but although able to untangle the propeller was lacking the parts to fully fix the problem.

Lieutenant George Walker, navigating officer, said: "Upon coming alongside the vessel, our divers cleared the rest of the line that was caught around the propeller and the marine engineers attempted to fix it.

"Unfortunately they didn’t have the parts required to fix it.

"After ensuring the vessel was in no immediate danger, the seaboat returned and collected some food and water from Middleton before returning it back."

After doing what they were able to for the crew and ensuring that they were in no immediate danger, the Royal Navy ship updated the coastguard letting them know the boat would need towing.

Yarmouth Lifeboat was then launched to tow the boat, with HMS Middleton once again carrying on to Weymouth.

Cover image: HMS Middleton's seaboat responded to help the fishing boat (Picture: Royal Navy).