Flashing lights in Hell Bay send St Mary’s lifeboat to Bryher

A scatter of lights winking in the dark off Bryher was enough to send the St Mary’s all-weather lifeboat out into the night on Wednesday. What the crew found, after criss-crossing Hell Bay for the best part of an hour, turned out to be a quiet lesson in how the sea can fool the eye.

A call from the cliffs above Hell Bay

The pagers sounded at 2140 on 13 August. Falmouth Coastguard had taken a call from a member of the public on Bryher who, watching from Shipman Head Down, could see flashing lights out in Hell Bay. With no way of knowing whether someone was in trouble below, the crew at St Mary’s RNLI Lifeboat Station launched and made for the area.

Shapes, shadows and the noises of the night

Once on scene, the lifeboat began a shoreline search from Shipman Head down to Gweal. In the dark, shapes and shadows on the rocks kept catching the crew’s eye, and the calls of wildlife carried across the water, all of which had to be checked in case any of it was a person needing help.

The crew then ran a quick search of the whole bay, pushing out as far as Scilly Rock, before working in towards the entrance of Popplestones. By that point the only lights anyone aboard could pick out were the cardinal buoys marking the north-west passage.

The lights explained

With some bearings taken and marks drawn on the chart, the crew pieced it together. The lights seen from the hill were those same buoys, further off than they looked, viewed down through the gap of Gweal Neck. Nobody was in danger. The lifeboat was stood down and returned to St Mary’s.

This kind of shout is what the RNLI calls a false alarm with good intent. The crew were clear that they would far rather launch and check than leave a genuine emergency unanswered. As the station put it, there is always the possibility that it is real and someone is in trouble.

Out on the water for Shout 19 of the year were Pete Hicks, Jimmy Hoddinott, Dan Moulson, Richard Mills, Andrew Hicks and Joel Ware.

If you ever make the call

The station shared one thing worth remembering for anyone who spots something and dials 999 for the Coastguard. If you can, stay on scene in a safe position, or at least keep yourself contactable, so the rescue teams can come back to you with questions. A second sighting or a fresh bearing from the person who first raised the alarm can save the crew a long search in the dark.

📷Credit: St Mary's RNLI Lifeboat Station