An event of rare drama took place on St. Agnes recently when the Islands coastguard force was called into action to deal with a grounded boat. A local woman, Mandy Pearce who while out walking the dog at around 2:30 on the afternoon of Thursday the 8th of February, spotted what appeared to be a small fibreglass boat moving slowly across Per Conger bay on the North side of the Sand Bar, raised the alarm. Mrs Pearce ran to the nearest telephone and dialled 999 for the coastguard, who were scrambled immediately. Meanwhile, Mandy’s husband Adrian Pearce, a flower farmer from St. Agnes, raced to the scene to assess the situation. When he arrived he found that a small ‘Orkney? boat was hitting the rocks under the cliffs of Lousy bank. Adrian described the boat as “around 16 to 17 foot long” and “greeny blue in colour”. Mr Pearce climbed around to the boat, having to scramble around via the Sand Bar, to see what could be done while the coastguards were on their way. The Boat, later found to belong to Roger Smith of St. Marys the former music teacher for the Isles of Scilly Secondary School, was hitting the rocky shoreline bow first. This meant that as the heavy seas hit the flat stern of the boat, water was coming in and the boat was rapidly filling up. The fact that the boat was hitting bow on, rather than stern on, did however prevent damage to the engines which were thought to be one Honda 30 hp Four stroke, and a separate reserve engine. Adrian did what he could, but it became clear that more people were needed in order for the boat to be hauled out of the water and therefore prevent further damage. The coastguards arrived some time later and they quickly set about the salvage operation. Ricky Legg jumped into the water and managed to push the boat out and bring it back in Stern first so that a towrope could be attached. With help from salvers on the rocks and a tractor up on the cliff top, the boat was hauled ashore. When the boat was high up on the shore, well above the incoming tide, the boat was bailed out and the two engines were taken off, to prevent further damage.
