Four female sailors aboard an ocean-going rowing boat had a brush with death at the weekend when they lay at anchor off the coast of Fife.
One of the SeaGals crew, television director Belinda Kirk, paid tribute to the prompt action of Forth coastguard, which managed to alert a cargo ship that was on an apparent collision course five miles between the Fife coast and the Bell Rock.
The crew were taking a break in their boat Go Commando when they saw a boat, the Whitstar, heading right towards them.
In her blog Belinda said the cargo boat was travelling at speed, and for a moment “time slowed” as they looked on in disbelief.
“I could see its bow profile exactly and see waves equally on either side of its bow.
“Normally, at this point we’d think about moving out of its way but we were anchored. Taking up the anchor takes at least 10 minutes, plus we couldn’t have fought the tide and wind-both would have pushed us north towards the cargo ship.
“We were sitting ducks,” she wrote.
Belinda said the only option was get the ship to change its course, and fast, and she called the vessel on VHF, all the time praying it would recognise their position and answer quickly.
“Forth Coastguard were brilliant. Within seconds they crackled on to the radio identifying the ship as Whitstar and hailing them to let them know we were calling.”
The Whitstar then radioed that it could not see the rowing boat, even though the radio message pointed out the cargo ship was on a collision course.
“Being such an insignificant speck in the ocean means very few of the big tankers and cargo ships we come close to even know we’re there.
“I dived into the cabin to turn on our ‘Sea me’ a device that makes our tiny boat bigger on radar.
“I kept talking to Whitstar, ‘You’re half a mile from us.'”
They readied themselves with signal flares as a last resort, but finally they were spotted and the Whitstar veered to port.
“As it passed us we got an idea of just how big it was and how very fast it was moving.
“A very scary moment of realisation of what nearly happened and a reminder of how important anchor watch can be,” she said.
The Go Commando is 24ft long and the crew, aged 24 to 50, is trying to set a world record and at the same time raise money for the Help For Heroes charity.
They are trying to row right around the mainland of Great Britain, some 2010 miles, and set out from the Thames on June 1.
Part of their progress has been followed by the volunteer group Skywatch, and pilot Jim Allan, Cellardyke, managed to locate and photograph them as they made their way down the east coast.
He said such flights are useful training exercises as the volunteer Skywatch pilots can be called upon to spot small vessels missing at sea as part of the cooperation they offer to the coastguard, police and other civil agencies.
The Go Commando is now on its way back to the Thames.