Select a region
Today marks 41 years since the Bonita rescue mission in Guernsey waters which the RNLI has highlighted as "one of our most incredible rescue missions".
Two men lost their lives in the tragedy, and 29 other people were rescued. All of Guernsey's lifeboat crew returned home safely too.
Guernsey's lifeboat at the time was the Sir William Arnold, with Michael Scales the coxswain.
His crew - Second Coxswain Peter Nicholas, Mechanic Robert Vowles, and crew members Alan Martel, Peter Bisson, John Bougourd, Richard Hamon and John Webster - responded to a mayday call from the Bonita - an 8,000-tonne Ecuadorian cargo ship carrying fertiliser from Hamburg to Panama.
She had been caught in a hurricane in the Channel, was listing heavily to starboard and was unable to right herself when the ship lost power at lunchtime.
The children and wives of the Captain and First Engineer were on board along with the crew, engineers and an electrician.
The RNLI’s volunteer crew launched at 13:23 to support the work of Royal Navy helicopters which also went to help the Bonita.
Pictured: A rescued crewman is taken off the Sir William Arnold in Brixham. Picture credit: Herald Express.
"Well, that morning was quite horrendous," he said.
"St. Peter Port Harbour was closed. We got a call about 13:00, roughly lunchtime - we hadn’t had our lunch yet by the way. St. Peter Port had received a mayday and off we set.
"Shortly after leaving St. Peter Port, we broached [keeled over to one side by the force of the wind and sea] and that was the first of many broachings. On the radar, you could just see walls of water.
"The first view of the ship, it was dusk, it was snowing and the seas were 15 metres high.
"It’s not until you see the daunting sight of a ship laying on its side knowing the amount of people that have to be rescued and the precarious position they are in. Then you have a thought: ‘well, how am I going to get these off safely, or as best you can'.
"I have great respect for those crew members on board Bonita who decided ‘well, we’re going to jump’ because personally I wouldn’t have liked to. I wasn’t thinking about my state of mind - I was thinking about the state of mind of the people we had to persuade to jump.
"Halfway through, we had 16 people on board, we had a serious injury and the crew were exhausted. I was exhausted because it is concentration. Eventually, the master of the Bonita was rescued and then I went ‘oh, thank you, God."
Pictured: Former St. Peter Port Lifeboat Coxswain Michael Scales received a gold medal for gallantry for leading the Bonita rescue of December 1981.
A few months after the rescue, in May 1982, Michael Scales and his crewmen received medals for their gallantry.
At the RNLI awards presentation they met the widows and other relatives of the Penlee Lifeboat crew who had all perished at sea just days after the Bonita rescue.
The Penlee crew launched to assist the Union Star, but everyone on board both vessels drowned.
Mr Scales said in his 2021 interview that he remembered meeting the relatives of the Penlee crew and he remains as proud of what the RNLI achieves today as it did in 1981.
"We were there at the same time as the widows of the Penlee receiving their husbands’ or sons’ medals. We took our [RNLI] ties and tied them in a big knot and presented them to the widows as a knot of friendship between the stations.
"I look at some of the photos. A few of my crew have since passed. I look at 40 years and think: ‘where did that go?'
"I look at what the RNLI is doing now in their construction, their training, the college - and it’s a new generation, but it’s still: 'get out there and save lives'."
Pictured: The 'gold medal' crew of December 1981, who went to assist the Bonita as she listed in hurricane force storms in the English Channel.
Marking the 41st anniversary of "one of our most incredible rescue missions", the RNLI has again paid tribute to the crew of the Sir William Arnold.
Their actions helped ensure 29 people who had been onboard the Bonita made it home.
The RNLI said "sadly, two others were fatally injured".
The organisation has shared images of the incident, crew members, and the son and granddaughter of late crew member Peter Bisson, as it continues to herald the work of the volunteers who set to sea on 13 December 1981.
All images and videos provided to Express by the RNLI.
Former Coxswain Michael Scales: My memories of the Bonita rescue
WATCH: Remembering the RNLI's Bonita rescue 40 years on
The 'Guernsey Hero' now educating others in London
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.