Presentation to Captain of M.V. Alltrans - 1 March 2008

AMSA's Senior Search and Rescue Officer (Maritime) Craig Longmuir presented the Captain of the M.V.Alltrans with a Certificate of Appreciation on Saturday 1 March 2008, for the ships involvement in the rescue of four New Zealand sailors on 14 February 2008. AMSA's Rescue Coordination Centre requested the Alltrans assistance due to its close proximity to the distressed yacht, Silhouette II after she had holed her hull 240 kilometres east of Byron Bay. Throughout the duration of the rescue AMSA's dedicated Dornier search and rescue aircraft out of Cairns and Essendon provided top-cover and radio communications. An Australian Defence P3 Orion also provided assistance during this period.

Given the adverse weather conditions during the rescue and the variance in size between the Alltrans and the liferaft in which the Silhouette II crew had needed to position themselves, the efforts of the Captain to manoeuvre the Alltrans to allow the liferaft to come along side exemplified extraordinary seamanship. The crew were able to secure the liferaft near the midship pilot ladder and all four of the Silhouette II crew were able to climb the 9 metre high pilot ladder to the safety of the deck of the Alltrans.

Click here to read a detailed case study of the Silhouette II rescue

Mark Ambroziak, AMSA Mission Control Aerorescue; Captain Mark Gunn, Master M.V. Alltrans; Craig Longmuir, AMSA Senior Search and Rescue Officer (Maritime) and Flt Sgt Colin Muller, RAAF P3 Orion Desk Operations Officer