Lifeboat called to Blazing Tall Ship
by BBC News/Sail-World on 2 Oct 2006
Tenacious in happier sailing mode SW
The importance of good emergency training on any sized sailing boat was underlined again yesterday when Tenacious, a tall ship with 39 people on board, off the Devon coast in the UK, was forced to call for assistance when the ship caught fire. It is now heading for port in Dorset, after crew, following emergency drill, put the fire out themselves.
A coastguard spokesman said: 'Tenacious reported she had a fire in the engine room and was closing down the engines and the crew were intending to use their on-board CO2 system to douse the fire.
'Earlier, the crew reported that a team with breathing apparatus had entered the engine space and had seen flames from the starboard engine.
'They were then able to fight the fire in the engine room while wearing the breathing apparatus.'
The owner’s engineering manager Richard Walker said the emergency drill ran smoothly. No-one was hurt.
The three-masted, square-rigged vessel is the larger of the two tall ships run by the Jubilee Sailing Trust and was on a voyage from Southampton to Milford Haven.
Two lifeboats were called out, and the sailing ship, which has 10 permanent crew and 29 mixed ability crew, is now heading for Portland with an escort.
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