Still wearing their best suits for the Queen's visit in St Ives yesterday were members of the RNLI lifeboat crew who were called out on a shout just hours after meeting the Royal couple.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were shown the Mersey class all-weather lifeboat, the Princess Royal which two hours later was launched to rescue a stricken fishing boat off the coast of Zennor.
Derek Hall, operations manager of St Ives lifeboat station, who gave Prince Philip a tour of the station, said : "It was a huge honour and a wonderful experience. He was asking lots of questions and seemed to have a real interest in the station and the work that we do."
He said the crew were called out around 3.30pm after the royal visit to help an 18ft Plymouth Pilot boat the Janet Ann, which had suffered engine failure with one person on board.
Although another fishing boat, the 16 foot Suzie was in the area and towing the Janet Ann, there were serious concerns that the vessel would not be able to tow her to safety and so the lifeboat was called to help.
Coxswain Paul Whiston said: "When we got there the boats were getting close to the Three Stone Oar rocks off Pendeen,Suzie had the Janet Ann in tow, but were struggling to get anywhere.
"We took over the tow of the casualty vessel and towed her back to St Ives."
While making their way back the crew of the lifeboat also became concerned for the Suzie as she was not able to make the same speed as the lifeboat, and so the St Ives inshore lifeboat Colin Bramley Parker was also launched to ensure thateverything was OK.
Fortunately when they reached the Suzie she was by then making good progress home.
The boat returned to St Ives at 5:30pm with the Janet Ann which was then moored outside the harbour as the tide was too low to get in.
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