#coastguard – A man and his teenage son have been rescued from their upturned fishing boat this afternoon on the Irish Sea.

Liverpool Coastguard received a call at 12.45 pm to report that the man and his son were on top of the hull of their orange open topped fishing boat. The boy was wearing a lifejacket. They had called a shore contact, using their waterproof mobile phone, who had then called the Coastguard.

Lytham St Annes RNLI inshore and all weather lifeboats were requested to launch and soon found the man and his son off Lytham St Annes. Both had been in the sea for about half an hour and were very cold. They were brought to shore and were then transferred on to hospital.

Rescue Coordination Centre Manager Tony Topping said:

"Fortunately the man and his son were found relatively quickly following their phone call and they had been able to scramble onto the hull of their small vessel.

If you're using your mobile phone in an emergency situation at sea or along the coast call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. This must always be your first call.

We would like to remind people who are setting to sea in small boats to take a reliable method of communication with them along with a back-up method. A portable waterproof vhf radio is ideal with a waterproof mobile phone or phone in a plastic bag as back-up. Remember that in many places around the coast mobile phone coverage is patchy and a radio is much more reliable."

#COASTGUARD - Campaigners for the Liverpool coastguard are urging the public to sign an e-petition to stop the closure of the city's search and rescue base.

According to BBC News, the Liverpool station at Crosby is one of eight centres across the United Kingdom set to be shut as part of the British Government's reorganisation of the national coastguard network.

Twenty jobs are expected to be lost in the closure, which could see the base for the UK Maritime Operations Centre move to England's South Coast.

Belfast's coastguard command centre at Bregenz House in Bangor was saved from the same fate last summer, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, but concerns remain over its staffing levels.

Liverpool coastguard currently covers the area in North West England from the Dee Estuary to the Mull of Galloway in Scotland, as well as much of the Irish Sea beyond the Isle of Man.

Last weekend alone it responded to 56 incidents in a 48-hour period.

Local staff have expressed fear that consolidation will see the region served by coastguards with no familiarity with the area.

A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) reiterated Shipping Minister Mike Penning's intention to "to create a resilient and fully networked national rescue co-ordination service".

The Liverpool coastguard e-petition is available via the campaign website at SaveLiverpoolCoastguard.org.

#COASTGUARD – Two walkers have been rescued from the water at West Kirby on the River Dee estuary after a three hour ordeal, lost in fog.

Liverpool Coastguard received a 999 call from the pair at 5.10pm reporting that they had set off for a dog walk out on the sands near Hilbre Island but thick fog had come in and they became disorientated and lost.  The tide was coming in and it was dark at 5pm so combined with foggy conditions the visibility was very poor.

Liverpool Coastguard initiated a search of the area involving Hoylake and Newbrighton Coastguard rescue teams, West Kirby RNLI inshore lifeboat and the Hoylake lifeboat tractor.  The rescue helicopter from RAF Valley also began a search of the area but foggy conditions prevented them continuing.

The Merseyside Coastguard Sector Manager was able to keep talking with them by mobile phone but visibility was less than 20 metres and the pair reported that they were up to their waists in water with the incoming tide.  At 8pm the shore crew of the West Kirby RNLI lifeboat heard them shouting and the inshore lifeboat was guided in to recover the two males and their dog from the water and transfer them to a waiting ambulance.  The pair are a father and son and were reported to have been suffering from severe hypothermia.

Liverpool Coastguard Watch Manager Graham Parr says,

"These large stretches of sand and channels can be treacherous so always check weather and tides before you set off and ensure you leave plenty of time to get back to shore before darkness.  Unfortunately these walkers were caught out by thick fog today."

#INLAND WATERWAYS - As Derek Evans writes in The Irish Times, the recent discovery of the first Guinness merchant vessel - sunk a century ago by a German torpedo in the Irish Sea - rekindled memories of the brewery's boats on the Liffey in the 1950s.

He writes: "Living close to Stoneybatter, I often took time to stand on Queen Street Bridge as the barges, filled with Guinness barrels, slowly made their way from James’s Gate to Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.

"I remember clearly the skipper standing beside the open wheelhouse in his navy blue polo-neck jumper, captain’s hat and pipe... The skipper always had a smile and a wave before he would disappear for a few moments under the white cloud."

He also recalls the hoisting of the barrells at Butt Bridge onto the Guinness cargo vessels - like the WM Barkley, the Lady Grania or Gwendolen Guinness - for transport to Liverpool.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the wreck of the WM Barkley was captured in high-resolution images taken from the national research vessel RV Celtic Voyager off the coast of Dublin.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Liverpool Coastguard received a 999 call from a member of the public at just after 1.30pm. The caller had heard calls for help from the water and spotted two people in difficulty off Silloth, Cumbria. Coastguard Rescue Teams from Maryport and Burgh by Sand were sent to the scene with the RNLI Inshore Lifeboat from Silloth and Maryport Inshore Rescue Boat.

The fishermen were rescued from the water by the RNLI Inshore Lifeboat and taken to hospital in Carlisle by ambulance. It then transpired that they had been fishing for shrimps at Cardurnock Flats, four miles from where they were found. It appears that their net got caught and their ten-metre fishing vessel 'Boy Bailey' turned over in the water. The vessel then sank and the men spent an hour drifting in the water, supported by life rings.

Tony Topping Liverpool Coastguard Watch Manager said:
"These fishermen were extremely lucky. Firstly they managed to grab life rings and then the tide carried them the four miles down to Silloth.

"The MCA recommends that commercial fishermen wear a personal floatation device or lifeline whilst working on the deck of a vessel at sea. This will keep you afloat should the unexpected happen and if you also have your vessel fitted with VHF DSC radio equipment which can send a distress alert you'll also have a way of calling for assistance when you need it."

Taking a lead from this year's Lyver offshore sailing race, when Liverpool Yacht Club used a "virtual" waypoint as a mark on the course, ISORA may include this type of mark in future races, that's according to Commodore Peter Ryan. His comments come in a plea to members for feedback before the 2012 ISORA calendar is set at the ISORA agm on November 19th. Virtual marks would be a means to ensure that the offshore fleet get true upwind legs and still have reasonable length races.

It would, says Ryan of Dun Laoghaire's National Yacht Club,  also facilitate the shortening of the day races.  'We have been around Rockabill so often over the last few years that the bird life there think we are residents!' he adds.

A former mayor of Holyhead has sung the praises of Holyhead's coastguard station to Afloat.ie.

Commenting on our recent report on plans to close Liverpool's coastguard station, Cllr KR Roberts said it was "a victory for people power" that Holyhead in north Wales joins Bangor in Northern Ireland among those stations reprieved under revised proposals for the streamlining of Britain's coastguard network.

"Holyhead Coastguard covers a vast area of the Irish Sea in close proximity to the Irish coast, where it joins forces with their Irish Coast Guard colleagues to provide a service of maritime safety to both commercial vessels and leisure craft alike," said Cllr Roberts.

"Holyhead Coastguard also provide maritime safety cover to over 300 miles of Welsh coastline that welcomes a vast variety of leisure craft from Ireland.

"As a past mayor and local councillor in Holyhead I am proud to promote the long traditions of maritime connections between Wales and Ireland. However I am sorry to see the loss of any coastguard station - in this case Liverpool Coastguard, which provides maritime safety cover to the northwest coast of England and the Scottish borders around the Solway Firth."

Cllr Roberts added that these areas would be taken over by Holyhead "with resilient support from Belfast and Milford Haven Coastguards".

A British MP has criticised plans to close Liverpool's coastguard station as 'dangerous'.

The Liverpool command centre - which also covers the Irish Sea - is one of eight that face the axe under revised proposals to streamline Britain's coastguard network that saved Belfast's search and rescue station from the axe.

Wirral MP Angela Eagle said the move "is all about saving money, not safety" and "will put safety at risk".

She told the Wirral Globe: "There’s still 12 weeks of consultation. But there real issues which need to be addressed. For example, a coastguard operator based in Northern Ireland will know nothing about what’s going on in Liverpool Bay.

"We have a huge maritime history and it’s being eroded by these cuts.”

The Wirral Globe has more on the story HERE.

The cargoship Arklow Rebel (2,999 gross tonnes) which loaded scrap metal in Wicklow Port today, is believed to be the largest Arklow Shipping Ltd vessel to dock in the east coast port, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 7-year old Dutch-built vessel arrived in ballast from Warrenpoint Co. Down around 01.30hrs to berth alongside the town's south quays at the Packet Quay.

Throughout this afternoon there was a steady stream of lorries laden with the scrap-metal which was loaded into the ship's hull by a quayside grabber. Upon completion of loading, the distinctive green hulled Arklow Rebel departed this evening bound for Liverpool.

She is one of nine 'R'class series of ships built by the Dutch shipyard of Barkmeijer Stroobos B.V. and has the following dimensions (90m length X 12m breath X 4m draft). For further vessel characteristics click HERE.

The Irish-flagged vessel is registered at the neighbouring port of Arklow to the south and is part of a fleet of over 40 ships managed by the Tyrrell family.

During the boom years Wicklow port was particularly busy with Scandinavian imports of bundled packaged timber and plasterboard for the construction industry.

The tidal port at the mouth of the River Leitrim also specialises in paper, lead, steel and dry bulk cargoes, principally coal in addition to other general and heavy-lift project cargoes.

For many years the issue of road traffic congestion was finally solved when the Wicklow Port Access and Town Relief Road Scheme was completed in April of last year.

The port access road (1.6km) runs between the Rathnew Road to The Murrough via a bridge that crosses the Broadlough Estuary and over the Dublin-Rosslare railway line.

At 16.52 a member of the public called Liverpool Coastguard to report that they could see three children who had been by the tide on sandbanks on the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes.  With still over an hour to go to high water, Liverpool Coastguard requested the RNLI New Brighton Inshore Lifeboat and Hovercraft, as well as informing Merseyside and Cheshire Fire and Rescue services.  A rescue helicopter from RAF Valley was also requested as it was feared that the children may have been overrun by the flood tide before lifeboat and hovercraft could get there.  Fortunately, Cheshire Fire and Rescue service were able to launch their inflatable boat and recover the three 14-year-olds, who, at 17.24, were reported as safely ashore - cold but otherwise unharmed.

Liverpool Coastguard Watch Manager Paul Parkes said:

"With the onset of the flood tide fast approaching and the three children stranded on the sandbank, if it weren't for the quick response of the Fire and Rescue Service this incident could have had a very different ending.  With the extended Easter school holidays, we would urge parents to be mindful of the whereabouts of their children at all times and to warn them of the dangers of being cut off by the tide."