”Esvagt Contender” and ”Esvagt Observer” in rescue activity in the North Sea.

A British fishing trawler took on water, and two ESVAGT vessels were the first to come to the rescue. Credit to the crews for good seamanship.

The North Sea is a large ocean especially when, like the fishing trawler ”Roust Mount”, you are right in the middle of it and suddenly begins to take on water.

That is what the trawler did on 27 March and the five-man crew sent an emergency call by Mayday over the Rogaland Radio. The call was received by two ESVAGT vessels “Esvagt Contender”, which was on standby at the Alvheim field in the Norwegian sector, and ”Esvagt Observer”, which was on standby at the Barryl field in the UK sector.

- When the distress call arrived, the vessels first reacted by contacting the platform managers and then ringing up the person on watch in the shipping company – which was me, says Jesper Sjørvad, Operation Manager at ESVAGT.

Having received permission from the platforms to leave the standby tasks, the two ESVAGT vessels took off towards the position stated by ”Roust Mounts”.

- ”Esvagt Contender” launched the FRC with three assistants and a master so that it could travel ahead before the ship would arrive at the position. And ”Esvagt Observer”, which was close by as well, launched the daughter craft, and took the ”Esvagt Observer’s” portable emergency fire pump with them, says Jesper Sjørvad.

Good decisions

”Esvagt Contender’s” FRC was the first to reach the trawler – three hours after the distress call. A short time after that, ”Esvagt Observer’s” daughter craft arrived as well. The ship assistants from the FRC went on board the trawler and began to pump the water out of the trawler with the daughter craft emergency pump. That relieved the situation – but not enough for the trawler to be able to sail ashore without outside assistance.

- When we were in control of the situation, ”Esvagt Observer” sailed back to the Barryl field, whereas ”Esvagt Contender” stayed with the trawler. They wanted us to accompany them ashore, but we could not do that so a tow boat from JR CC was called and helped the trawler to Bergen, says Jesper Sjørvad.

After the sea rescue ESVAGT has received fine feedback form the parties involved. Apache and Maraton, who are operators in the Barryl field and the Alvheim field respectively, have commended the shipping company for demonstrating good seamanship and for having ‘made good decisions’ and the ‘right disposition’. Jesper Sjørvad is of course extremely pleased with that.

- The action demonstrated that we have good seamen who are able to read the situation correctly and make the correct decision. Fortunately, it is rather rare that we have an occasion to show what we can do, but it is nice to know that we can. We can be justly proud of that, he says.