Aberdeen’s lifeboat crews were paged at 10.20am on Sunday July 29: Aberdeen Coastguard had received a call from a member of the public who was concerned they could see a person or object in the water at the entrance to the new Aberdeen Harbour Expansion Project in the Bay of Nigg, south of Girdleness Lighthouse.
Nine volunteers formed crews for the all-weather and inshore lifeboats and put to sea. The caller, helpfully, stayed on the phone and guided the inshore lifeboat directly to the object which had sparked their concern: the crew identified the object as a mooring buoy
Robbie Coull, coxswain for the shout, says: “It was helpful that the caller stayed in position and on the phone: this allowed us to confirm positively that the object seen was in fact the buoy.”
The call, Aberdeen’s twenty-second launch on service in 2018, will be formally classified as a false alarm with good intent.
The lifeboats were stood down, returned to Aberdeen Lifeboat Station and were refuelled ready for service by 11:30 am
