Volunteer’s sea rescue from shop 6,400km away
When Alex Evans answered his mobile phone he was stunned to hear best friend Mark Corbett, 25, shouting: “Alex I’m in the s*** and I need your help.”
The RNLI volunteer, 27, from Aberystwyth, west Wales, was even more perturbed when he learned his friend claimed he was in a fast-sinking ship called the Titanic.
The unlikely call came just one day before April 1 as he queued with his mum to pay at a DIY store in his home town.
After ensuring he was not the butt of an elaborate practical joke, Evans coordinated a dramatic sea rescue from the store’s kitchen section.
He rapidly took down the grid reference of the 1,700-ton ship’s location on a till receipt and alerted Milford Haven Coastguard.
It was later discovered the Titanic belonged to a company called White Star Ltd, the same name as the cruise line which owned the ill-fated original. “He called me because it was the only number that he could remember in his panic. I think it was either me or his mum,” Evans said.
He said Corbett, also from Aberystwyth, was near the island of Grenada, in the Atlantic, and the engine room had already taken on 8ft of water.
The ship was too far from shore to use its VHF radio and lack of power had cut off long-range radio links.
The small crew was left with just the satellite phone, and a panicked Corbett was reduced to dialling numbers he knew by heart. His call proved to be a life-saver as the emergency alert was transferred to Falmouth Coastguard, which deals with international incidents.
Within an hour the American Coastguard and a French spotter plane were scrambled and a US Coastguard cutter eventually towed the ship to safety. Evans said his friend had got back to dry land and was expected back in Britain this week.
The ship had been renamed the Titanic after its previous owners decided to keep its original name.
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