Cunard Line, the world's most famous luxury cruise line, participated through its ship Queen Mary 2 in a successful rescue mission of a yacht participating in a transatlantic race, which had suffered serious damage during a storm.
Former Royal Marine Mervyn Wheatley, 73, was participating in the Original Single Handed Transatlantic Race, known as OSTAR, when his yacht was hit by 15-meter waves and 60-knot winds during a severe storm in the North Atlantic, causing extensive damage to his vessel.
The experienced sailor had already participated in this race five times, sailing solo on a 6,500-nautical-mile voyage from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island, aboard his yacht Tamarind. He had crossed the Atlantic 19 times, giving him considerable experience on this route. This time, however, he was struck by a powerful storm, causing irreparable damage to his vessel, and he had to issue a distress signal last Friday. The UK Coast Guard and their counterparts in Halifax, Canada, launched a long-range rescue mission after detecting his distress signal.
The Queen Mary 2 of Cunard Line, a luxury cruise shipping company, after receiving this emergency signal, changed course and headed to the scene, arriving around 1 pm on Saturday to carry out the rescue.
The captain of the Queen Mary 2, Chris Wells, who led the rescue mission, commented that coming to the aid of a vessel in distress was standard maritime practice. He added, “We are pleased to be able to help and delighted that Mervyn Wheatley is now safe and sound on board the Queen Mary 2.” Following the rescue, Wheatley was described as “unharmed and in good spirits.”.
Daniel Bailey, UK Coastguard maritime operations officer, said: “We are very grateful for the support and professionalism that the Queen Mary 2 provided during this rescue.”.
