An overdue alert from the MOB Guardian fitted to the vessel was quickly detected in the operations room of the RNLI headquarters at Poole and details of the vessels last known position were passed initially to Falmouth Coastguard and subsequently to the Channel Islands Search and Rescue Authority.

The St. Peter Port RNLI lifeboat was at sea training at the time just 12 miles away from the position and after calculating the likely drift, located the liferaft containing the three crewmen. They were landed safely ashore unharmed within an hour of the initial alert being received.

Developed by the RNLI in conjunction with marine safety equipment manufacturer McMurdo and Active Web Solutions (AWS), the system monitors a vessel's position, course and speed at regular intervals and sends the information via satellite link to the RNLI operation room at Poole, which is manned 24 hours a day.

A feature of MOB Guardian is the Personal Safety Device worn by the fishermen when working on deck and in constant radio contact with the base unit. If the wearer falls overboard and contact is lost, an onboard alarm activates and a signal sent to the RNLI. This sequence taking place, typically within two minutes, is particularly important for fishing boats that operate single handed where there would be little chance of survival if the sole occupant fell overboard. A built in ‘panic-button’ activates an alert if the wearer is ill or trapped in machinery.

An important aspect of the MOB Guardian is that the RNLI is seen as a trustworthy and independent custodian of the data it receives. The commercial confidentiality of information,

including their area of operation, is important to fishermen and the RNLI is only interested when things go wrong.

Registered fishermen can benefit from significant cash grants towards the cost of the MOB Guardian through UK Government and European funds. Grants of up to 40% of the installed cost are administered through, among others, the RNLI, Sunderland Marine or the Marine Fisheries Agency (MFA) and their counterpart agencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Funding may also be available for fishermen from Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man through individual associations.

One of the rescued fishermen, David McMurdo from Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, reflected on the ordeal. 'It [MOB Guardian] saved our lives, no doubt about it. If it wasn’t for that, nobody would have known where we were. I was worried we were going to die but once we got into the liferaft I knew we were 90% safe. We knew we were getting saved.'