Subsea Marine Ltd

The Irish Cave Rescue Organisation (ICRO) was tasked by An Garda Síochána in the early hours of September 18, to assist with a multi-agency sea-cave rescue at Downpatrick Head in Co. Mayo.

A man had entered the cave on the previous day, but became stranded on a ledge some 40 metres inside the cave due to the tide and sea conditions.

Lifeboat teams from the RNLI and Coast Guard were hampered by the dangerous swell within the cave, and could not safely gain access by sea.

However, ICRO was able to 'rig' (establish) an alternative route using ropes from the clifftop.

Specialist rigging teams from ICRO’s Fermanagh and Clare regions completed a 12-hour bolting exercise down the cliff face and along a difficult traverse inside the cave to reach the man.

He was given an initial assessment, and then guided out along the rope traverse, to where he could be assisted in walking to the top of the cliff. He was then flown by Coast Guard helicopter to Sligo University Hospital for treatment.

ICRO personnel were stood down at 16:15.

ICRO would like to thank all of our volunteers involved in this successful rescue.

ICRO would also like to thank the other agencies who were instrumental in its outcome: Coast Guard and RNLI units from Killala, Ballyglass, Killybegs and Achill, An Garda Síochána, the National Ambulance Service, Civil Defence, and the Fire Service.

Huge thanks also to the local Ballycastle community for supporting and catering for all of the teams.

French man survives 16 hours trapped in capsized boat A 62-year-old French man survived for 16 hours in an air bubble inside his capsized sailboat in the Atlantic Ocean.

Admiralty stops printing paper nautical charts after 222 years
Sailors will now have to use digital versions in a move described as ‘quite sad’ and might disadvantage older people.
Since the first maritime maps were printed by the department of the Admiralty 222 years ago, they have been a mainstay of vessels across the world....
At one time, electronic charts came with the following warning;

“The electronic chart is an aid to navigation intended to facilitate the use of authorized government charts, not to replace them.”

The digital shift raises the possibility that future navigators will not have paper support to rely on in the event of failure of their electronic navigation systems.

It also raises questions about teaching navigation skills, like learning to plot a course, which is best done with a physical map.

Students would likely continue to learn with the paper maps, but these would not be UKHO products.

The Admiralty’s Hydrographic Department initially produced charts for Royal Navy use only, but in 1821 began to make them commercially available.

It is believed that around 14,000 electronic navigational charts are currently available in the Admiralty’s portfolio.

Updating maps is a laborious process.

Updating the catalog of paper charts to reflect new hazards and changes in coastal structures is a laborious and expensive process and the UKHO, a direct descendant of the old Admiralty, which became part of the Ministry of Defense in 1964, has done so less assiduously in recent years.

Since the first maritime maps were printed by the department of the Admiralty 222 years ago, they have been a mainstay of vessels across the world.

ccto: Nautical Solutions