Uk189-Gertjan

The "Gertjan - UK 189" ran aground at the east side of Pollendam in the Dutch Wadden Sea on Jan 26, 2018, a few hundred meters from the port of Harlingen. A salvage attempt in the afternoon by three tugs of the salvage companies Tuinman and Noordgat did not succeed because the water level was already dropping. Rijkswaterstaat planned to make a new attempt at night with the high tide around 2 a.m. on Jan 27. The patrol boat "RWS 76" secured the trawler in the meantime. At 3 a.m. the trawler was successfully pulled off and entered the port of Harlingen at 3.40 a.m. Bad visibility was thought to have contributed to the grounding. Dutch report with photo: http://www.lc.nl/friesland/Kotter-loopt-vast-bij-Pollendam-in-Waddenzee-vannacht-reddingspoging-22857428.html

The "Gert Jan" ran aground off Lowestoft harbour entrance in the morning of July 26, 2013, and was rescued by the Lowestoft RNLI lifeboat. The beam trawler got stuck on the edge of the Newcombe Sands just half a mile from the pier heads at Lowestoft and the volunteer crew of the port’s all weather lifeboat "Spirit of Lowestoft" were called at 8.06 a.m. to help the stranded vessel. The boat reached the Trawler within a few minutes. The vessel was very unlucky to have caught the edge of the sandbank. The flood tide conditions at the time were tending to push the trawler on to the sand. The lifeboat attached a towline and after pulling the bow around into the tide and with the help of the trawler’s own engines, it managed to free the vessel within 10 minutes. The crew of the trawler had alkready been trying for some time to free the vessel from the sandbank before help were was called. The trawler was on passage to Lowestoft from Den Helder and had almost reached her destination when she got into trouble. Report with photo: http://rnli.org/NewsCentre/Pages/Trawler-pulled-from-sandbank-by-Lowestoft-RNLI-lifeboat.aspx