Leverburgh RNLI came to the aid of nine passengers and two crew while on routine exercise on Thursday night ( 25 May).

At approximately 1940 hours night, while on routine exercise in the vicinity of Leverburgh pier, Leverburgh RNLI’s volunteer crew came across a 13.5m passenger vessel which had encountered problems with their steering, leaving them unable to make their way into the pier.

Having established that the vessel was requiring assistance and following correspondence with Stornoway Coastguard, a tow was set up between the casualty vessel and Leverburgh RNLI’s Atlantic 85. The casualty vessel was safely brought alongside at Leverburgh Pier.

There were nine passengers and two crew aboard the casualty vessel. No one was hurt and all were safe & well when they disembarked at Leverburgh Pier.

Leverburgh Lifeboat was back at the versadock and ready for service again by 2115 hours.

Catriona MacLennan, Leverburgh’s Lifeboat Operations Manager said: “I want to commend Rachael, who is one of the youngest Atlantic 85 Helms in the UK, on her quick-thinking last night.

"She had set off on exercise to show our newest trainee crew member some basic mooring & berthing manoeuvres and before she knew it she was bringing 11 people to the safety of the pier.

"The wind direction, tide and the casualty vessel’s loss of steering made for tricky conditions but she handled this unexpected situation well.”