HMS Dragon Rescues Stranded Yacht Crew In Atlantic
A Royal Navy warship raced through the night to rescue 14 sailors who were stranded for two days in the Atlantic after their yacht was damaged in a storm.
HMS Dragon diverted 500 miles to reach the 13 Britons and one American on board the 60ft Clyde Challenger.
The racing yacht had left the Azores and was heading for the UK when its mast was torn off by a "rogue wave" on Thursday.
With the help of UK and US aircraft, as well as a commercial chemical tanker, the Portsmouth-based naval warship tracked the yacht and sprinted at 30 knots through turbulent seas to reach the stricken boat.
One of the professional sailors on board the yacht spoke of his relief to find the Royal Navy were en route:
"There were maybe a few doubts in my mind but when I knew HMS Dragon was coming for us, I knew it was going to be a positive outcome."
After traveling for 20 hours the warship rescued the crew at around 2.30pm on Saturday, some 610 miles south west of Land's End.
Petty Officer Max Grosse, the Chief Bosun's Mate on board HMS Dragon, said:
"We were, however, hugely relieved to see all 14 crew alive and well.
"Despite racing through the night we only had three hours of daylight remaining in which to safely remove the crew.
"The prevailing weather conditions and notorious Atlantic swell made it enormously challenging though and really tested the skills of my experienced sea boat coxswains."
All crew members were said to be “alive and well”, and were treated for minor injuries.
The Challenger could not be recovered.
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