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Boat: All Weather Lifeboat
Crew: Mark Pollard (Coxswain), David Proud, Snowy Angove, Tom Bird, Tom Napper, Claire Angove, Steve Bond
Location: 7 miles South of Falmouth
Shout Date: 02/02/2010 - 19:30
Weather:SW 4 , Moderate Sea & Swell, Good Visibility, Partly Cloudy

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At 19:21 Falmouth Coastguard requested the launch of Falmouth All Weather Lifeboat following a call from the Irish Ferry Oscar Wilde reporting an engine room fire 7 miles South of Falmouth. The vessel was on engine trials and had 113 crew onboard but luckily no passengers. In addition Lizard Lifeboat was requested to launch along with the Coastguard Emergency Towing Vessel Anglian Princess, a Helicopter from RNAS Culdrose, the Fire Brigade Marine Incident Response Group and the Falmouth Harbour Tugs Ankorva, Percuil and St Piran. The Falmouth Coastguard Cliff Rescue Team was also tasked to establish a forward landing site for the helicopter in Falmouth Docks.

The All Weather Lifeboat left its pontoon berth at 19:30 and headed out to the ferry which had dropped its anchor. Arriving on scene at 19:59 the lifeboat was tasked to standby the vessel while the ships crew tried to contain the fire and members of the Fire Brigade Team and Coastguard were flown out to the vessel. Eventually at 23:00 it was confirmed that the fire was fully extinguished and all units could be released. While the Lizard Lifeboat returned to station the Falmouth Lifeboat was requested to remain on scene to provide safety cover until all Fire Brigade and Coastguard personnel had been winched off the ferry, a task that was completed at 00:57.

The All Weather Lifeboat was back alongside its pontoon berth by 01:27. The lifeboat was then refuelled, and was ready for service by 01:50.

The ferry which is 166m long and has a gross tonnage of 31,122 tonnes had been on engine trials following a refit at Falmouth Docks when a fire had occurred in the main generator compartment of the engine room. The ships crew did an excellent job in containing the fire and the ferry was towed back into Falmouth the following day so that the damage could be assessed.