Today’s fishing trip turned into quite an eventful day. With everyone gathered on board and ready for the off the only thoughts were to steam out to the chosen fishing mark and start filling the ice box with some good quality Pollack.
With the crew in good spirits and happily chatting away on the outward journey we had not a care in the world even the weather was on our side for a change, lovely calm seas and just a hint that the sun might make an appearance. As it turned out not only did the sun decide to stay behind the clouds but also one hell of a cloud was about to descend on the boat.
Within an hour of arriving at the fishing mark one of our crew was starting to feel quite unwell. Nothing unusual in that as quite often a crew member will feel a little strange when out at sea, but in this case the crew member was used to being out on the water and so that in itself was quite unusual.
His condition became quite serious very quickly and the nausea developed into severe chest pains with the casualty falling in and out of consciousness. Skipper took control and a Pan Pan was called whilst I kept a constant watch on the casualty.
The coastguard was immediately in radio contact with us and passed us onto another channel where we could talk directly with a doctor.
We followed all instructions given by the doctor but the condition was getting worse not better. By this point we knew that the helicopter was on its way and it would be a matter of minutes before the coastguard arrived and the casualty was on his way to hospital.
Ray keeping a steady course saw the winchman on deck. He went straight to work administering emergency medication. Everyone helped to get the casualty into the stretcher and up onto the bait table ready to be lifted into the helicopter.
The photos tell the rest of the story.
The casualty was taken to Brighton hospital and is thankfully ok. An update from the coastguard informed us all that fortunately it was not a heart problem but a respiratory problem and all will be well.
We would like to thank the coastguard for all their help today.
We would also like to thank the rest of the crew on board for their help and understanding of the events which occurred and broke up the days fishing they had planned.
Thank you guys.
We are lucky to have such good emergency services that can come to our aid when on the water, glad to hear your crew member recovered OK.