Reported at 10.23 this morning
Aberdeen Coastguard is coordinating the safe return of the fishing vessel Ulysses which was taking in water and losing power this morning off the far North West coast of Scotland. The Coastguard Rescue helicopter airlifted Coastguard pumps on board which have kept the vessel afloat.
At 6.30am Aberdeen Coastguard was contacted by the skipper of the fishing vessel Ulysses reporting they were suffering a serious ingress of water, were losing power and their pumps could not keep up. Aberdeen Coastguard immediately sent the Coastguard Rescue helicopter Mike Uniform (pictured below) from Stornoway to the scene with pumping equipment and Thurso RNLI all weather lifeboat. Another fishing vessel in the area went to assist the Ulysses which was in difficulty seven miles off the mouth of Loch Eriboll. The crew of the fishing vessel prepared for the worst and made ready their emergency equipment; life raft, EPIRB and were wearing life jackets. The Durness Coastguard Rescue Team were keeping a watch on the incident from the shoreline and reporting in to Aberdeen Coastguard.
The winchman from the Coastguard Rescue helicopter went down onto the deck of Ulysses with the Coastguard pumps which are now working to keep the vessel afloat and the helicopter has returned to Stornoway. Thurso RNLI all weather lifeboat is escorting Ulysses along the coast this morning to make repairs at Scrabster.
Ulysses is a 20m fishing vessel registered in Banff, with four crew and was returning from fishing grounds when she got into difficulty. The weather conditions are winds force 6 with a moderate sea.
Image courtesy 
The Iolaire headed north, through the channel between the Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland, and by midnight reached the open waters of the Minch. Weather conditions gradually worsened, with a force 6 breeze gusting to galeforce whipping up a strong swell up the Minch. As the familiar blink of the Arnish Lighthouse, which stands at the entrance to Stornoway Harbour, came into view the men felt they were in home waters. Virtually all of them had come into their home port dozens of times before, and a near-gale would not have daunted them. As the Iolaire approached the lighthouse from the south, she was expected to make a turn to port to round the Arnish Peninsular. Nothing happened, and at 1.55 a.m., the Iolaire struck rocks at the Beasts of Holm, 2½ miles south of Stornoway. 
. When dawn broke on that New Year's morning, just before 9 o'clock, a pitiful sight presented itself. The mast of the Iolaire protruded from the water, with one man bravely hanging on to the rigging, which he had been doing for six hours. Seven others who had been with him had not had the strength to hang on and had fallen in the water and drowned. The communities around Stornoway were presented with an even more gruesome sight. Bodies had come ashore, by the dozen. The Captain was found dead at Lower Sandwick, just a mile to the north, with two liferings around him. Others turned up at the Braighe, a few miles to the east. One body was found at Grimshader 5 months later. Eighty men, known to have been in the Iolaire, were never recovered. A total of about 205 men died that night; 75 survived. 
The famous celebrations of Hogmanay (the Scottish New Year) at Edinburgh were cancelled within the last half hour, on account of extremely strong winds. Winds were gusting up to 85 mph at Campbeltown and 75 mph at Tiree, which is 150 miles south of here. Other cities cancelling their events are Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast. London is considering its options, as things are quite blustery there as well. 
Evelyn Glennie (image courtesy 
