09 January 2012 - Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service called to aid listing Royal Yacht Britannia
 Firefighters from Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service (LBFRS) had a busy afternoon today as they battled to bring the Royal Yacht Britannia vertical after she took on water and began to list (6 January).
An emergency call was made just after 11am to the popular tourist attraction moored in Leith Docks when a planned move to dry dock for renovation work went awry.
Firefighters attended at the scene to carry out emergency pumping of the water and return the ship to vertical. Around thirty personnel from LBFRS were involved in the successful three and a half hour operation.
Group Commander Graham Inglis from Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, said:
“This morning during a planned move of the Royal Yacht Britannia to dry dock, the ship’s first journey in fourteen years, engineers noticed that she was taking on water and listing to a four degree angle. That was more than they had anticipated and, as the ship no longer had the mechanical means to move the water we were called to the scene to assist.
“An emergency effort to pump water out of the Royal Yacht Britannia was a success and rectified the list it developed while being moved to be repainted.
“The yacht was tilting on its starboard side by four degrees after developing a leak in a door seal. It reached an almost 8-degree tilt but by pumping water from starboard to port, firefighters were able to bring Britannia back to the vertical.
“The yacht is now being moved to a dry dock across the harbour in Leith and we are very pleased that we were able to help and ensure the safe passage of Britannia.”
Four pumping appliances, an incident support unit and command support unit attended from city centre stations.
Two further specialist units, including a high volume pump based in Hawick in the Scottish Borders were also called to assist the Britannia.
Bob Downie, Britannia Trust chief executive, said: "When we were removing the final mooring ropes this morning the ship moved four degrees to starboard.
"This meant that new access watertight doors to our pontoons were below the water level.
"There has been a leak in the seals on those doors which was accentuating the list.
"Because we have had limited shore power we asked the fire brigade to provide us with some assistance in correcting the ship's ballast. Britannia arrived safely in dry dock at 3.25pm this afternoon. Thanks to our wonderful maintenance team and Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service.”
Enquiries: Ruth Macleod, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, Tel: 0131 228 2401
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