Workboat from Maersk Raft in Loch Striven answers MayDay call

A few days ago the fishing boat Wanderer issued a Mayday call after getting into difficulties in Loch Striven, north of the raft of 6 Maersk-owned boxships in cold lay up there.

Coastguard Richard Morgans (below right), coordinating the rescue, contacted Captain David Johnstone in charge of the raft and asked for its workboat – to attend the fishing boat in the first instance.

The arrival of the workboat – known as the ‘Baby B’ – was designed to offer quick reassurance to the fishing boat, while the Tighnabruaich Lifeboat got down from the the Kyles of Bute to the west of Loch Striven.

With the workboat first on the scene, the Tighnabruaich Lifeboat arrived, as did Andy Lancaster (below left) of Toward Moorings and Towage – both also sent to the scene by the Coastguard. Andy Lancaster’s Fraoch then towed the Wanderer to Colintraive.

The photo above – by copyright holder Rebecca Martin, shows Captain David Johnstone, Skipper of the Maersk lay-up raft in Loch Striven, at the helm of the raft’s workboat – christened the Baby B (after the B-class ships that make 5 of the 6 rafted ships).