40 years in SAR
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40 years in SAR
Picked up this from the Shetland News.. Well done Kieran
Kieran’s hanging on after 40 years
Kieran’s hanging on after 40 years
SHETLAND coastguard’s well known winchman Kieran Murray yesterday (Monday) celebrated his ruby anniversary with the airborne search and rescue service, an unrivalled record.
In a career that has lasted almost twice as long as the coastguard have been operating in Shetland, the 61 year old has taken part in some of the most awe inspiring rescues ever to take place in UK waters.
Joining the Royal Navy at 15 to escape his childhood home of Derry it did not take him long to discover that he wanted to take to the skies…without leaving the sea behind.
“We used to watch the fixed wing aircraft flying past and one day I spotted this little red-nosed helicopter, which I enquired about and was told it was a search and rescue Whirlwind. I thought, I fancy that,” he remembered.
That was back in 1969. Already a navy diver, he trained to join the airborne squad and “the rest is history”.
It was 1983 before the coastguard service was set up at Sumburgh to provide an emergency service for the growing amount of activity offshore, and Kieran was there right from the beginning.
He had started working for Bristow four years earlier and so when they won the coastguard contract he was already part of the team, moving to Shetland with his wife Anne and family.
Kieran has counted the number of lives he has helped save over the 40 years he has been in the job, and it comes to more than 1,000. The number grows to 4,500 when you count the number of folk he has helped in rescue missions.
Of those, the one that stands out above all others came in the darkest year for marine disasters off Shetland…1993.
However it wasn’t the Braer oilspill that he remembers, but the Lunokhods, the Soviet klondyking fish factory ship that foundered off rocks under the Bressay lighthouse on 11 November that fateful year.
“It must have been two o’clock in the morning when we got the call that this vessel was going on the rocks at Bressay. I noticed how bad the weather was when I was driving into work, seeing the junction boxes on the electric poles lighting up because of the salt hitting them,” he recalled.
The southerly wind was blowing at 80 knots, the ship was sinking and there were 56 frightened men on board.
“Visibility was very, very poor and because of the proximity to the rocks and because it was sinking we had no option but to winch from the left hand side, and that in itself is unusual.”
The first lift saw the coastguard crew manage to retrieve all the crewmen who were on the deck, and they were promptly flown to the Clickimin.
On their return an RAF Sea King had already been to the ship and seen no one else on board, so they had left for the lifeboat where there were casualties on board.
“We came alongside and thought, there’s thirty three people there, but they must have gone. Then all of a sudden we saw a flare lit from the back of the boat and they all appeared. We managed to winch them all aboard. It was standing room only.”
That incident has gone down in history as the largest number of people rescued in a single winching operation, and earned the team the American Rescue Crew of the Year award.
The other incident that stands out in his mind was very different. Christmas Day 1995 was the whitest Christmas Shetland has seen in recent years, so white that every road was blocked and the medical services were worried about the very young and old suffering from hypothermia with the power supplies down.
Kieran was on duty preparing for a quiet day when the call came in. “The snow was so deep you couldn’t drive to work, so the helicopter had to come and pick us all up. That day we just flew and flew and flew. We didn’t get back to the hangar for our Christmas dinner until 10.30 at night. That was very a satisfying day.”
Over the years the service has stayed pretty much the same, Kieran says, but the technology has changed.
The old workhorse Sikorsky S61 has been replaced by the highly computerised S92, a sign of the times that he does not feel at home with. “I’m not a computer person,” he admits.
Digital cameras have even taken the shine of his enthusiasm for photography, which has seen many of his spectacular shots from various aerial vantage points published.
Aside from the computers, the job has not changed that much, he claims. Outside the fishing fleet has got smaller, some of the fishing boats have got bigger and there is less work going on offshore, but inside the coastguard everything remains familiar.
It is a job he continues to love, his enthusiasm passing on to his 31 year old son Kieran who now works alongside him as a pilot based at Sumburgh. “You never tire of flying around here,” he says, a smile beaming across his face.
In a career that has lasted almost twice as long as the coastguard have been operating in Shetland, the 61 year old has taken part in some of the most awe inspiring rescues ever to take place in UK waters.
Joining the Royal Navy at 15 to escape his childhood home of Derry it did not take him long to discover that he wanted to take to the skies…without leaving the sea behind.
“We used to watch the fixed wing aircraft flying past and one day I spotted this little red-nosed helicopter, which I enquired about and was told it was a search and rescue Whirlwind. I thought, I fancy that,” he remembered.
That was back in 1969. Already a navy diver, he trained to join the airborne squad and “the rest is history”.
It was 1983 before the coastguard service was set up at Sumburgh to provide an emergency service for the growing amount of activity offshore, and Kieran was there right from the beginning.
He had started working for Bristow four years earlier and so when they won the coastguard contract he was already part of the team, moving to Shetland with his wife Anne and family.
Kieran has counted the number of lives he has helped save over the 40 years he has been in the job, and it comes to more than 1,000. The number grows to 4,500 when you count the number of folk he has helped in rescue missions.
Of those, the one that stands out above all others came in the darkest year for marine disasters off Shetland…1993.
However it wasn’t the Braer oilspill that he remembers, but the Lunokhods, the Soviet klondyking fish factory ship that foundered off rocks under the Bressay lighthouse on 11 November that fateful year.
“It must have been two o’clock in the morning when we got the call that this vessel was going on the rocks at Bressay. I noticed how bad the weather was when I was driving into work, seeing the junction boxes on the electric poles lighting up because of the salt hitting them,” he recalled.
The southerly wind was blowing at 80 knots, the ship was sinking and there were 56 frightened men on board.
“Visibility was very, very poor and because of the proximity to the rocks and because it was sinking we had no option but to winch from the left hand side, and that in itself is unusual.”
The first lift saw the coastguard crew manage to retrieve all the crewmen who were on the deck, and they were promptly flown to the Clickimin.
On their return an RAF Sea King had already been to the ship and seen no one else on board, so they had left for the lifeboat where there were casualties on board.
“We came alongside and thought, there’s thirty three people there, but they must have gone. Then all of a sudden we saw a flare lit from the back of the boat and they all appeared. We managed to winch them all aboard. It was standing room only.”
That incident has gone down in history as the largest number of people rescued in a single winching operation, and earned the team the American Rescue Crew of the Year award.
The other incident that stands out in his mind was very different. Christmas Day 1995 was the whitest Christmas Shetland has seen in recent years, so white that every road was blocked and the medical services were worried about the very young and old suffering from hypothermia with the power supplies down.
Kieran was on duty preparing for a quiet day when the call came in. “The snow was so deep you couldn’t drive to work, so the helicopter had to come and pick us all up. That day we just flew and flew and flew. We didn’t get back to the hangar for our Christmas dinner until 10.30 at night. That was very a satisfying day.”
Over the years the service has stayed pretty much the same, Kieran says, but the technology has changed.
The old workhorse Sikorsky S61 has been replaced by the highly computerised S92, a sign of the times that he does not feel at home with. “I’m not a computer person,” he admits.
Digital cameras have even taken the shine of his enthusiasm for photography, which has seen many of his spectacular shots from various aerial vantage points published.
Aside from the computers, the job has not changed that much, he claims. Outside the fishing fleet has got smaller, some of the fishing boats have got bigger and there is less work going on offshore, but inside the coastguard everything remains familiar.
It is a job he continues to love, his enthusiasm passing on to his 31 year old son Kieran who now works alongside him as a pilot based at Sumburgh. “You never tire of flying around here,” he says, a smile beaming across his face.
Last edited by Senior Pilot; 11th Sep 2009 at 22:34. Reason: Add photo and article
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What a way to spend one's life.....saving lives!
Congratulations.....and thank you for your long service!
Congratulations.....and thank you for your long service!
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a worthwile career
I spoke to a fisherman winched from the drink after his trawler capsized one night. He said as you loose body heat your mind stars to drift & eventually it gets peaceful. Then the sound of something man made intrudes over the wind & rain and an unbelievably bright shining light stabs the blackness. He said being winched towards that light was like ascending into heaven.
Winchmen remind me of the guy walking along the beach throwing back fish stranded by the tide. Someone commented on the futility of the task given how many fish there were. "Made a difference to that one" the guy said as he tossed another back. In the end that's how things get done in this world, one life at a time.
Winchmen remind me of the guy walking along the beach throwing back fish stranded by the tide. Someone commented on the futility of the task given how many fish there were. "Made a difference to that one" the guy said as he tossed another back. In the end that's how things get done in this world, one life at a time.
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Winchmen remind me of the guy walking along the beach throwing back fish stranded by the tide. Someone commented on the futility of the task given how many fish there were. "Made a difference to that one" the guy said as he tossed another back. In the end that's how things get done in this world, one life at a time.
Rrrrrrrrrrright one..
Good work Kieran. Was always a pleasure.
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A finer man you'll never meet
When up the Spiggie on his seat
A wicked smile and ample crack
Whilst holding onto a pint of black
A man whose life is derring-do
When helping souls get oot the poo
Well done, dear Murray, for your a star
And best wishes to you from no' too afar!!
When up the Spiggie on his seat
A wicked smile and ample crack
Whilst holding onto a pint of black
A man whose life is derring-do
When helping souls get oot the poo
Well done, dear Murray, for your a star
And best wishes to you from no' too afar!!
It appears there is a serious error, as they have certainly got Kieran's age wrong. And how many contemporaries of his (corrected) age, can boast such a handsome head of hair.
Barbers? He's getting prepped for Up Helly Aa.
Quite an achiement: Good on ya!
PS: I'll see you in the pub (2 weekends from now) so you can buy me a beer to pay me back for this glowing tribute!
Barbers? He's getting prepped for Up Helly Aa.
Quite an achiement: Good on ya!
PS: I'll see you in the pub (2 weekends from now) so you can buy me a beer to pay me back for this glowing tribute!
Well done!
Congatulations - an outstanding record
I would like to read a book about all this one day....it would be an amazing tale! Congratulations on a life very well spent!
