At the end of November, Storm Arwen ripped through the United Kingdom, Ireland and France, with winds reaching 110 mph. During the storm, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) received a distress call on November 26 from a fishing boat drifting 70 miles off the coast of Tynemouth in northeast England, stating that their engine had failed. Thus, the crew of the Tynemouth lifeboat embarked on a daring rescue mission.
The lifeboat launched at 8:45 pm in total darkness, 90-mph winds and 20-foot seas. It took them 4.5 hours to reach the 100-ton vessel, but because of the sea conditions, it was too dangerous to lift its six-person crew onto the rescue boat. Instead, the RNLI secured a towrope to the fishing vessel and hauled it back to Tynemouth.
At 2:45 pm the following day, 18 hours after the lifeboat had launched, both vessels arrived in Tynemouth. Both crews were safe, despite what lifeboat coxswain Michael Nugent said were among the worst conditions he had seen in his 36 years of service.
You can watch footage of the rescue in the video below.
