DONAGHADEE’S volunteer lifeboat crew spent a night at sea on Monday responding to distress signals.
“Sea conditions were fair but it was a wet and cold way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Grace Darling,” said coxswain Philip McNamara.
The Saxon was launched after a distress signal was received from a fishing boat then joined a search triggered by reports of distress flares in the Strangford narrows. The lifeboat returned to Donaghadee after four hours in which nothing was found.
“Thankfully no lives were at risk,” said Philip.
Grace Darling is famed for the rescue of survivors from the Forfarshire which ran aground on the coast of Northumberland in 1838.