Lifeboatmen airlifted to safety

Second mechanic Simon Tugwell and deputy coxswain Steve Smith scrambled aboard the barge, which had broken away from a tug boat off Shoreham.

They set up a tug line and managed to drop one of the barge's two 12ft anchors before being forced to abandon ship. They were rescued by Solent Coastguard's helicopter India Juliet.

Mr Tugwell, 40, said: "We pulled the lifeboat up next to the barge and 'Smithy' and I scrambled up the ladder to get on board."

Severe weather made the mission even more difficult '“ 13ft waves and gale-force winds forced the rest of the Shoreham lifeboat station team back, leaving their crew-mates on the barge.

The crew managed to slow the multi-million-pound barge from six knots to just over three before they were forced to abandon the mission. Mr Tugwell, who has been a lifeboatman for 23 years, said: "It was a team effort '“ all I did was climb the ladder.

"As far as I'm concerned, I don't take any glory from it. I would not have been able to get on the barge without the lads."

The new, empty barge, measuring about 125 feet across, was being pulled by Polish tug Ajaks from Dungeness to St Nazaire when the tow rope broke.

As the tug attempted to reattach the tow line, it suffered engine failure and the coastguard was called at about 6.30am on Thursday.

The tug managed to repair its engines, but was forced to leave the barge as conditions worsened.

Shoreham lifeboat, which launched just before 8am, was slightly damaged in the rescue attempt.

The barge, roughly the height of a two-storey building, was drifting down the coast, out towards Seaford, and was dangerously close to floating into the Dover shipping lanes, the busiest in the world.

Shoreham lifeboat spokesman Dave Cassan said: "If it had drifted into the shipping lanes, there would have been chaos.

"It was moving pretty fast, six knots, and some of the larger tankers have a five to 10-mile turning circle or stopping distance. There is no way they could have avoided it."

The barge eventually anchored itself about a mile off Seaford and a Dutch salvage company was hired to refloat it on Saturday.