TWO men narrowly escaped death after a dramatic Bailiwick rescue yesterday. Kevin Payne, 45, and George Manse, 55, from Southampton, were saved from their sinking 75ft converted motor fishing vessel Abundance by Alderney’s Trent class lifeboat Roy Barker I.
Mr Payne’s dog, Daisy, was also rescued, but his cat, Fluffy, was left on the boat, which is still missing. A French air search revealed no trace of the vessel, which is believed to have sunk.
In a daring manoeuvre, two of Alderney’s lifeboat crew boarded the sinking boat at 3.25am in force eight gales.
Mr Payne, a retired hairdresser from the Shirley district of the Hampshire city, had to be encouraged to abandon the boat.
‘I put my whole life into that boat and I didn’t want to leave it,’ he said.
On his way to start a new life of sailing in the Mediterranean, Mr Payne has now been left in financial ruin after all his possessions were lost.
‘I’ve lost everything I ever owned. I mortgaged the house three times over the last few years to pay for the boat.’
The boat, built by Husband’s in Southampton in 1948 and recently converted by Mr Payne, was not insured.
‘No one would insure the boat because it was too old - the underwriters said they wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.’
Mr Manse, who owns an engineering business in Sarisbury Green, near Fareham, was crewing on his friend’s boat.
He said they were at fault for setting off from Southampton without knowing the weather conditions and also for not properly strapping down the contents of the boat before leaving at 4am on Tuesday.
‘The whole thing can be blamed on not knowing the weather - we should have checked but I spent four days on the boat in Southampton preparing and I didn’t have access to the internet so we couldn’t check,’ said Mr Payne.
Rough seas meant it took them six hours to get beyond The Needles - it should have taken only an hour.
By 9.30pm on Tuesday, the engine room was filling with water after the vessel had been listing in high seas for hours.
‘Everything in the boat was being thrashed around with each roll.
‘I had to crawl along the deck on my hands and knees, I was just desperate,’ said Mr Payne.
‘Doing anything was like trying to thread a needle on a roller coaster.’
Mr Payne, a diabetic, was at the wheel for nearly 24 hours and towards the end was vomiting because of his condition.
Many of the boat’s fittings, including a bath, came loose and were washing around.
Article posted on 5th July, 2007 - 12.00am
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