More Audacious problems

THE BANFF fishermen at the centre of a Mayday operation on Thursday morning found themselves in more trouble that night.

Early on Thursday the Sumburgh-based coastguard rescue helicopter and the Lerwick lifeboat were launched to assist the crew of the Audacious after it started taking in water.

Within less than two hours of the call however the crew had resolved the problem by shutting off the intake pipe that was leaking sea water, and headed back to the fishing grounds east of Fair Isle.

However later in the day the fishing vessel broke down after suffering gearbox problems and was towed in to Lerwick harbour by Peterhead fishing boat Adorn II at 7.15pm.

Determined to continue working, engineers had the problem fixed by midnight and the fishermen went back to sea shortly before 1am.

The Audacious used to be known as Nordfjordr until recently, when she was renamed. The original Audacious (BF83) sank off Aberdeen in August last year.