THE FISHING crew from Newlyn rescued from a sinking boat in rough seas off the Isles of Scilly have spoken of their brush with death.
Four fishermen aboard the Ben My Chree were winched to safety by a Royal Navy helicopter pilot after the vessel started filling with water late on Thursday night.
The last man on board leapt on to the St Mary's lifeboat in the rolling seas during the dramatic rescue.
The crew, led by skipper Stephen Hicks, were 17 nautical miles north-east of the Scillies when the 15-metre gill- netter started taking on water.
They radioed for help from Falmouth coastguard just after midnight and a rescue helicopter was scrambled to try to lower a salvage pump to the deck. The Newlyn-registered CKS also answered the distress call and stood by.
Weather conditions made lowering the pump impossible and, with the water in the boat rising rapidly, the crew made the decision to be airlifted to safety.
"After we shot the nets, she wouldn't pump properly so we started heading for home," said 56-year-old Stephen, who has co-owned the vessel with brother Jonathan since 1978. "The boys said the water was coming up pretty quickly; you could see all this water sloshing around and getting quite deep in the engine room.
"Then it got higher and higher so we decided it was time to call the coastguard.
"They tried to lower this big pump down but it was pitch- black and everything was throwing around.
"The boys just said: 'No; it's time we were off this thing'."
Ross Vickars, 19, said it was an experience he wouldn't like to repeat.
"I was scared; I think we all were," he said. "The boat was filling up with water. I looked down and there was a good foot of water on the decks."
His uncle Jamie Vickars, 32, was also on board the Ben My Chree, and said his main focus was taking care of his nephew.
Fear
"I couldn't panic because Ross was there; it would have made him worse," he said. "I knew there was something wrong but I was trying to keep a level head."
He managed to send a text to his partner Lindsey, who was back at home in Newlyn.
"It seemed to happen very quickly; the pilot of the helicopter was absolutely fantastic, and the lifeboat from St Mary's as well," he added.
Ross was first to be winched aboard the Sea King helicopter, followed by Rod Jones, 44, and 28-year-old Finbar Jones.
Then Stephen was lifted off, but the boat was rolling too much for Jamie to be lifted off the deck. Instead he had to step on to the St Mary's Severn-class relief lifeboat Daniel L Gibson alongside to be winched up to the helicopter. All five were then flown to RNAS Culdrose.
Pilot Lieutenant Commander Jerry Barnbrook said it had been a challenging rescue. "Although it was good weather, the swell was causing dangerous sea conditions," he said.
Falmouth coastguard spokesman Terry Collins praised the rescued crew, saying they were very calm and collected. "It was a very frightening situation," he said. "They had no idea if the vessel was going to stay afloat or just sink underneath them."
The lifeboat crew from St Mary's stayed alongside the disabled vessel until dawn. As the night progressed she sank lower in the water and the engine stopped, prompting the coastguard to issue a warning to other vessels as she started to drift across a shipping lane.
The St Piran, a fisheries protection vessel, began towing her back to Newlyn at 2.30pm but she sank just before midnight on Friday, about a mile off Gwennap Head.
Though he was sad to see the loss of his boat, Stephen said, he was just glad all his crew were safe. "When a boat fills up, it gets unbalanced and can sink in 20 seconds," he said. "It's lives you have to worry about; you can replace the boat but you can't replace people."
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN