Valhalla Charter Boat Of Bridlington – Down Memory Lane
Fishing Charter Boat Valhalla
The story i am about to tell must be every skippers and anglers nightmare (Sunday the 11th August 1985), it started off as a good days angling aboard the charter boat the Valhalla out of Bridlington with a group of anglers from Negas SAC Hull, the boat was skippered by Ian Taylor known to his friends as skip a good friend of mine.The Valhalla was returnig to to Bridlington harbour after recieving a weather warning when she lost a rudder just out side the harbour enterance and was rapidly swept towards the harbour wall.
Coast guards who were on the scene with in minutes threw lines and ladders over the wall in desparate at an attempt to rescure the men thrown into the freezing water. Local fishermen also threw lines and life belts to try and get the men of the boat.
Several of those on aboard managed to scramble to safety, while 5 were airlifted to the shore by the RAF helicopter from Leconfield.The rest were hauled to safety onto dry land, but sadly one man Mr Kenneth Handley (58) did loose his life
Below are some of the pictures that Ian has kindly agree to let me tell the story
Trawler leaves harbour to try to give assistance, you can see skippy attempting to get a line aboard the trawler
Boat gets hit with big wave
Anglers holding on
Managed to get a line onto the bow hand rail, but the rail pulls off
Waves starting to swamp the boat
Skip trying to get a line aboard
Boat now swamped and starting to sink
You can see the RAF winch man just to the left hand side of the boat attempting to rescue an angler out of the sea
It just goes to show never take the sea for granted, what a sad sight, the poor men must have been terrified,i hope to god it never happens to me .
Wow it just hammers home hue dangerous things can become in such a short amount of time. Fantastic story
Col
A very sad day just goes to show you can never trust the sea, and to loose a rudder when you just about to enter the harbour and safety
i agree with the above posts a very sad sad story, it just goes to show how cruel the sea can be RIP Kenneth
Very sad to see some one loose there life, so near but yet so far, thanks for sharing the memories with us by telling the story
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
A sad story that really illustrates just how dangerous the north sea can be. Thanks for sharing it with us.
I was in Brid on that day,, absolutely awful, all i can remember is a teenage lad who had been rescued crying his eyes out,, a very sad day, bridlington just went quiet.
my grandad is Ian Taylor it took him time but he findley had the curage to get another boat i am his grandaught
To soservices; cheers for the words,incredible last four words,sums it up well,though it’s a bit vague to me now,I was 15 and crying coz my Dad had just lost everything he had worked so bloody hard for,i am sat here crying again,it tends to catch me by surprise every 3 or 4 years,told it’s a mild PTSD and never been to sea since that day,but i knew that,going forward i would be able to take anything that the world can through at me.
When we got a new boat we mounted a plaque in memory of Ken and i still has the Negas SAC badge they gave me.
Never knew the name of the boat, but I was there. Virtually under the helicopter and yards away from the poor soul laid on the floor.
Soon as I realised the seriousness of the situation I moved on, didn’t want to be in the way. It was pretty crowded…
It’s something I still think about pretty regularly. This reports answered a few questions