A trawler crew plucked from the sea off the Isles of Scilly on Monday were reunited with their families yesterday.Following the major rescue operation, the seven men were cared for at the fishermen's mission at Newlyn.

For one of the crew, Dave Murphy, it also provided an unlikely reunion with his brother, who lives in Penzance.

The rescue services swung into action on Monday morning when the Irish trawler, Discovery, sank while its nets were being pulled in.

Five of the crew were able to scramble into a liferaft but the other two, including the skipper, Noel O'Sullivan, were forced to take refuge in a second raft, which was half filled with water and only partially inflated.

Mr O'Sullivan admitted: "We couldn't have held on much longer. We were at our wit's end. We just had our overalls on and it was very, very cold."

After a two-hour ordeal, they were picked up by the oil tanker, Font Commander, which had been diverted to the scene by coastguards. A search and rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose brought them back to dry land.

Petty Officer Dave Rigg, who was involved in the rescue of the Napoli crew off the Lizard nearly two weeks ago, was lowered by winch to the ship.

He said: "The crew on the Napoli had been able to get into survival suits but none of this crew had."

After being landed at Culdrose, the crew were collected by David Whitehead, superintendent of the Newlyn mission.

"We arranged clothes for them and they were able to stay here overnight. We then arranged their travel home.

"They were pretty shocked by the incident but very glad to be alive and thankful for all of the people involved in their rescue."

article copyright THE CORNISHMAN 

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