Two major incidents in one week for Falmouth coastguard team

Late on a Friday night at Gyllyngvase Beach. A man overboard alert at Mylor Harbour. Two medical evacuations from the same marina.

And then two long days helping bomb disposal specialists after unexploded ordnance turned up in the water off Falmouth.

That was the past seven days for the volunteers of Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team, who shared their log of call-outs, saying: “It’s been a busy old seven days for us.”

📷Credit: Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team

Seven call-outs in seven days

Here’s the team’s log for the week:

• Friday 18 September, 10.46pm to 11.30pm: assisting the ambulance service at Gyllyngvase Beach
• Sunday 20 September, 9.11pm to 11.03pm: search after a man overboard DSC activation at Mylor Harbour
• Sunday 20 September, 11.26pm to 12.30am: assisting the ambulance service with a medevac at Port Pendennis Marina
• Monday 21 September, 9.05am to 4.05pm: major incident, assisting the EODU at Falmouth Docks
• Monday 21 September, 4.05pm to 5.11pm: assisting the ambulance service with a medevac at Port Pendennis Marina
• Monday 21 September, 5.11pm to 6.45pm: back to the major incident at Falmouth Docks
• Wednesday 23 September, 7.30am to 5pm: major incident, assisting the EODU across the Falmouth area

On the Sunday, the Mylor Harbour search had barely finished before the team was called to Port Pendennis Marina, where the job ran past midnight.

Monday brought the longest day. The team broke off from the major incident at the docks for more than an hour to help with another medevac at the marina, then went straight back.

📷Credit: Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team

The major incident near Pendennis Shipyard

The team said the two major incident days were a response to the discovery of unexploded ordnance in the water not far from Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth.

Working with partner agencies, the team was committed to evacuating the properties and open areas within a 755m cordon, which was in force while the ordnance was moved. In the log it appears as assisting the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit (EODU), first at Falmouth Docks on Monday 21 September and then across the wider Falmouth area on Wednesday 23 September.

📷Notice to Mariners No. 26 of 2026. Credit: Falmouth Harbour

The exclusion zones still in place off Falmouth

The job isn’t quite over on the water. The team shared a Notice to Mariners from Falmouth Harbour setting out a new exclusion zone around the ordnance.

Notice No. 26 of 2026, issued on Thursday 24 September, states that unexploded ordnance exists at position 50° 08’N 005° 03’W, which the notice’s charts show in Falmouth Bay.

If you’re on a boat

An exclusion zone with a 500m radius of that position is in force for all vessels, which must keep well clear. The centre is marked by a large unlit yellow special mark with “DANGER” painted on it.

If you dive or snorkel

A secondary exclusion zone with a 1,200m radius is in force for all SCUBA divers and snorkellers, who must also keep well clear.

Keep a listening watch

Port users are asked to keep a listening watch on VHF channel 16 for further updates from the Coastguard.

The notice remains in force until the ordnance has been dealt with and the yellow mark removed. Active notices are listed on Falmouth Harbour’s Harbour Notices and Directions page.

📷The 500m exclusion zone for all vessels (chartlet 1) and the 1200m zone for divers and snorkellers (chartlet 2). Credit: Falmouth Harbour. Not to be used for navigation

“A huge effort by all responders”

The team named the partners who worked alongside them: the Royal Navy, Devon & Cornwall Police, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, Cornwall Council and Falmouth Town Council.

Fellow coastguard teams came from Newquay, Padstow, St Ives, St Agnes and Porthoustock, with full-time officers from Area 11 and MRCC staff from Falmouth Coastguard. West Cornwall, East Cornwall, Exmoor, Ashburton, Tavistock, Plymouth and North Dartmoor search and rescue teams were named too, along with Serve On and Devon & Cornwall 4×4 Response.

There was a big shout out for Rapid Relief Team UK, “who fed and watered everyone”.

And the last word went to the people at home and at work who make the call-outs possible: “Thanks to our families and employers that allow us to do what we do. We couldn’t do it without you.”

📷Credit: Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team