A new short film at the Scottish Maritime Museum captures a rare reunion between a fisherman and the lifeboat that saved his life nearly six decades ago.
The 20-minute documentary follows 83-year-old Dennis Avery as he revisits the RNLI lifeboat TGB at Irvine Harbourside. Avery was rescued along with 14 crewmates from the Grimsby trawler Ross Puma during a snowstorm in the Pentland Firth in April 1968.
“This lifeboat and crew saved my life,” Avery says in the film. “Without them, my grandchildren wouldn’t have known me.”
The rescue was TGB’s last major mission. Less than a year later, the lifeboat and all eight crew members were lost in the Longhope Lifeboat Disaster.
RNLI lifeboat TGB at Irvine Harbourside
Avery, now the last surviving member of the Ross Puma crew, recalls being thrown from his bunk as the vessel struck the North Rackwick Shoals. With radar down and visibility close to zero, the trawler grounded in heavy seas.
He remembers the moment of rescue at 2:56am when TGB, commanded by Coxswain Daniel Kirkpatrick, arrived. He describes the coxswain’s “brilliant seamanship”, anchoring and backing the boat towards the reef to reach the stranded men.
All 15 fishermen were ferried to safety in a single remaining life raft before the Ross Puma broke apart. Once aboard TGB, Avery was handed “a big tot of really thick rum”.
The film was produced by museum volunteer Amber-Louise Thornborrow, whose great-grandfather was related to Coxswain Kirkpatrick. It is screened beside TGB along with a new exhibition.
Claire Jones, Learning, Engagement and Volunteer Manager at the Scottish Maritime Museum, says the project “gives a deeply human voice to TGB’s service”.
North East Lincolnshire councillor Hayden Dawkins says the film “shows just how dangerous being a fisherman could be”.
Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre Operations Manager David Ornsby calls the reunion “a huge moment for Dennis”, adding that it strengthens collaboration between the two museums.
Avery hopes visitors will reflect on the risks fishermen face. “We want people to think what it could have cost to put that fish on that plate,” he says.
The film was produced by students from Ayrshire Film Company.
