A fishing boat bought for around £30,000 suffered a calamitous journey home to Angus after being stormbound, breaking down three times and catching fire.
The Kalisto needed help from four lifeboats to get to its new home in Arbroath from Rye in East Sussex after being sold on June 2. The boat reached Arbroath about 3am on Friday after a 18-mile towing operation.
The Banff-registered, nine-metre Kalisto hit problems on June 2 on its way from Rye to Angus with two men on board. Dover lifeboat was called out to it when the engine failed and towed it back into port, where it was stormbound for several days.
On Thursday morning the boat broke down again off Seahouses in Northumberland and an RNLI lifeboat had to go to its aid. The Kalisto was heading for Arbroath when it was hit by a series of engine problems and caught fire 20 miles off the Firth of Forth at around 10.30pm.
Dunbar’s RNLI lifeboat was diverted from an exercise and went 18 miles to rescue the crew. When it arrived the fire had been put out but the engine was broken and the boat was unable to move under its own power.
Dunbar coxswain Gary Fairbairn said, “Conditions were not too bad last night when we picked him up there was a bit of a swell running but we were able to get him under tow quite easily. We headed up toward Arbroath making pretty slow headway through the seas and the coastguard requested Arbroath lifeboat to come down to meet us and take over the tow.”
At around 11.15pm the Arbroath lifeboat Fisherman’s Friend was launched by the volunteer crew to take over the towing of the boat at the request of the coastguard. It was the first shout for the lifeboat, which is there temporarily while Inchcape undergoes repairs.
Coxswain Tommy Yule and his crew met the Dunbar lifeboat about three miles south of the Bell Rock and around 14 miles out to sea. The fishing boat was towed into its new home port, where it awaits repairs.
It is understood the skipper is from Arbroath but he was unavailable for comment on Friday.
The Kalisto was sold after being offered for sale on findafishingboat.com at £30,000 or nearest offer. The advert stated, “A fine wee boat. Lots of stainless steel rails, gantry etc. A very sound boat which is in daily use.”
Photograph Jim Ratcliffe.