At 2352 on 10 November 2008, 14 hours into their duty, the crew of the Royal Navy helicopter “Rescue 193” (of 771 Naval Air Squadron based at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall) were scrambled by the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) Kinloss at the request of Medico Madrid to aid a fisherman onboard the 29.5m Spanish fishing vessel Pesca Verdes Tres. The vessel was reported to be 150nm SW of the Isles of Scilly in a westerly gale force 8 with rough seas. The casualty was reported to have suffered a severe abdominal injury and his condition assessed as life threatening. The fishing vessel had turned towards the UK and although steaming at full speed, it would only be at the extreme range of the Sea King at the time of the anticipated rendezvous. The crew of “Rescue 193” comprised Lieutenant Sean Krueger United States Coast Guard (1st Pilot, Aircraft Commander), Captain Martyn Roskilly Royal Marines (2nd Pilot), Lieutenant Jonathan Hounsome Royal Navy (Observer) and Chief Petty Officer Aircrewman David Rigg (Winchman/Paramedic)
Assessing the likely weather conditions on scene,the crew elected to depart RNAS Culdrose with a full fuel load and re-fuel en-route at St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly in order to gain maximum endurance. Despite being advised by ARCC Kinloss that a Nimrod aircraft would not be able to launch for a further 1hr 30mins to provide top cover for the long range mission, Lt Krueger elected to launch as planned to minimise any delay in effecting the rescue. After refuelling at St Mary's, Lt Hounsome obtained an updated position of the vessel and crucially noted that it was heading further north of its expected rendezvous. This was resolved through Falmouth Coastguard and “Rescue 193” arrived on scene at 0255 in atrocious conditions - gale force winds and mountainous seas, an inky black night with no references or horizon to help the crew stabilize in the hover. To make matters worse, the Pesca Verdes Tres was rolling excessively in the deep south-westerly swell which was also causing the vessel to pitch heavily, and she was rising and falling by 45ft. Any transfer to the vessel was going to be very challenging made even more difficult by the lack of deck space and the obstructions cluttering her deck including a plethora of radio aerials. Given the serious nature of the casualty's injuries, the only safe option was to lower CPO Rigg onto the deck by use of a hi-line in order for him to give immediate medical treatment to stabilise the casualty and co-ordinate his evacuation by stretcher. Captain Roskilly liaised closely with the master of the vessel over the selection of a heading that reduced the degree of deck motion. Maintaining communications with ARCC Kinloss and the Nimrod, which had now arrived on scene, he continued to provide vital feedback on aircraft performance and endurance to the remainder of the crew. Utilising a mixture of white light and night vision goggles, his commentary on the approaching wave-sets, swell and the likely motion of the vessel was vital in allowing the crew to seize the fleeting lulls in deck motion and conduct the transfers. Lt Hounsome directed the aircraft into a high hover in order to maintain aircraft safety and successfully passed a hi-line to the vessel's crew, then lowering CPO Rigg to a suitable height above the sea. Lt Hounsome provided calm direction translating CPO Rigg's hand signals into clear manoeuvring orders to the pilots. For a period of 10-15 minutes CPO Rigg remained suspended on the winch wire, composed and selfless, whilst being battered by the elements as they waited for the opportune moment to move over the vessel. At one point during this transfer, the aircraft and the vessel started to part company due to the violent, unpredictable sea. The hi-line parted and CPO Rigg was recovered back into the aircraft in order to re-assess the situation. Realising that the hi-line procedure was unlikely to succeed, a small area above the well deck on the rear port quarter of the vessel was selected for a conventional transfer. Despite the greater risk involved the crew elected to attempt the transfer. Once again the aircraft stood off the vessel for 10-15 minutes with CPO Rigg suspended 60-70 feet below until there was a very short lull in deck movement. CPO Rigg was then deposited firmly on deck and he rapidly detached himself from the winch wire and set to work on the casualty below.
The casualty had been critically injured by a cable that had parted and almost severed his upper and lower torso, a condition far more serious than the crew of “Rescue 193” had been informed of. CPO Rigg, a paramedic trained aircrewman, did as much as he could to stabilise the man before returning to the upper deck to take charge of the vessel's crew. Three further successful hi-line transfers were conducted to pass the stretcher to the vessel, recover the stretcher and casualty, and to recover CPO Rigg to the aircraft. In total, it had taken 1 hr 11 mins to conduct these transfers. Conventional SAR planning allows for 30 mins on scene so the decision to re-fuel on the Isles of Scilly was a key factor in the successful recovery of the casualty. Throughout the transfers Lt Krueger demonstrated a high degree of handling skill, captaincy and spatial awareness in minimising the hazards to the aircraft and crew. The motion of the vessel, coupled with limited and at times no hover references, was such that the transfers took all of the crew's skill and experience. Despite spending over an hour in physically exhausting conditions, followed by a wild recovery to the aircraft, CPO Rigg continued to administer emergency care assisted by Lt Hounsome, successfully resuscitating the casualty on 5 separate occasions. Sadly, the casualty died from his severe injuries before “Rescue 193” reached the Royal Cornwall Hospital. The aircraft returned to RNAS Culdrose at 0534 by which time the crew had been on duty for nearly 20 hours. The Lady Swaythling Trophy Outstanding seamanship, cool decision making and good leadership ensured the safety of a survey vessel and her crew.
By early afternoon visibility was drastically reduced with occasional white-out conditions and wind speeds exceeding 50 knots, which would have made the helming of the 9 metre survey boat exceptionally challenging. During the afternoon the glacier at the head of the harbour detached an iceberg that was then blown across Nimrod's anchor position dislodging her anchor from the seabed. In near hurricane conditions and with the added weight of the now waterlogged inflatable boat streamed astern threatening to drive Nimrod on to the rocks, Kevin Leeson ordered his crewman, Sarah Burns, to cut the anchor line, whilst he helmed the SMB out into safer water. He used a hand-held GPS to maintain his spatial awareness in the now continuous white-out conditions and generated a safe area of operation, slowly building a track of known safe water which had a temperature of 2º centigrade. With no visibility and winds now estimated to be in excess of 65 knots by the shore party Leeson considered his options. With limited fuel onboard, appalling weather conditions and erratic communications he took the decision to carry out a controlled beaching of Nimrod in a pre-selected location.
In brief periods of increased visibility and with his crew trying her best to maintain radio communications with the shore party in poor propagation conditions, Kevin Leeson manoeuvred the Nimrod with great skill to the vicinity of the waiting shore party, whose torches only became visible at a distance of 20 feet, and then beached her. He then directed and assisted his crew to disembark, took all possible actions to safeguard the boat and her equipment before unloading the safety equipment, and only then did he disembark himself. Kevin Leeson demonstrated excellent seamanship and boat handling skills: his calm and measured decision making and clear communication skills enabled him to safely beach the Nimrod thereby ensuring the preservation of his and his crew's life, whilst saving his vessel from certain damage and possible sinking amongst the fast moving growlers and bergy bits. Nimrod was re-floated the following day from her position on the beach (Fig 2) having sustained only superficial damage. Within a short period of time she recommenced survey operations within Yankee Harbour (Fig 3) in order to complete her tasking and enable the updating of charts for the safety of mariners who regularly visit this location from cruise ships. The Lord Lewin Awards George Shaw - Peterhead
Darryl White - Catterline, Gourdon and Johnshaven
Exceptional Fundraising Award
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