Tributes have been paid to RNLI Castletownbere deputy coxswain Dave Fenton, who has died unexpectedly at the age of 41.
As The Sunday Independent reports, Fenton was an experienced Garda who saved lives on both land and sea as a volunteer with the RNLI Castletownbere station in west Cork.
The father of three was an accomplished sportsman and active member of his community.
He was involved in many rescues as both deputy coxswain and deputy mechanic with the RNLI, participated in the BBC Saving Lives at Sea television series, and won two Water Safety Ireland awards.
Only several weeks before his death, he was mechanic on the crew of the Annette Hutton which launched to assist a 40-foot fishing boat with two people on board that had reported mechanical difficulties.
Fenton showed “unwavering dedication and commitment,” the RNLI Castletownbere station’s lifeboat operations manager Paul Stevens has said.
“Dave was always available, always first to volunteer, always ready to help - always with courage, humour and compassion,” Stevens has said.
“He was on call-outs that were challenging and that saved lives - he not only deserves our recognition but our gratitude,”Stevens said.
Water Safety Ireland selected Fenton on two occasions for “Just in Time” awards for rescues - the first for his quick response to a situation in 2014 at the pier in Castletownbere, and the second also in Castletownbere in 2020.
One award-winning tasking for the RNLI which he participated in was to assist the Clodagh O fishing vessel which had lost power with six crew on board in October 2018.
The vessel was being blown by south-easterly winds onto the Piper’s Rocks at the entrance to Berehaven harbour when the lifeboat reached it.
Fenton was one of a five-man crew, including coxswain Dean Hegarty, Marney O’Donoghue, John Paul Downey and Seamus Harrington, to respond, and he had just one chance to cast a rope which would ensure the vessel could be towed away from rocks.
The coxswain, Dean Hegarty, received an RNLI bronze medal for gallantry, while his crew, including Fenton, and deputy launching authority Michael Martin-Sullivan received letters of appreciation from the chairman of the RNLI.
Another mark of his dedication was a rescue he was involved in the year after the Clodagh O. Fenton was deputising for the full-time coxswain on leave in October 2019 when a young fisherman was lost in Dunmanus Bay in west Cork.
In a five-day multi-agency major search, Fenton demonstrated his persistent determination by commanding the lifeboat for 60 hours in very poor weather conditions. The body of the young fisherman was finally recovered, and only then was Dave willing to stop searching.
Garda sergeant Steve O’Sullivan recalled at Fenton’s funeral that he was a “great man to have in your corner”.
Irish South and West Fish Producers’ Organisation chief executive Patrick Murphy, representing the fishing fleet in Castletownbere and along the south-west coast, said he was a “great community man”, both as an RNLI volunteer, as a distinguished sportsman and as a Garda.
Dave Fenton is survived by his wife Laura, children Emma, Mike and Ollie, parents Anne and Michael, brothers Christopher and Joseph and extended family.
Read The Sunday Independent here
