Family in lucky escape as yacht hits an iceberg

A father told of his family's "race against time" yesterday after their yacht struck an iceberg deep in the South Atlantic and began taking on water.

Carl Lomas and Tracey Worth, who go by the names Lord and Lady Hollinsclough, ran into trouble on Friday evening, 300 miles north-east of South Georgia after they hit a low-lying iceberg, known as a "growler".

The couple, of Chelmorton, Derbyshire, were sailing to Cape Town with their daughters, Caitland, 13, and Morgause Lomas, 11, when they hit the iceberg in the dark. They called for help from the Falmouth Coastguard and the warship HMS Clyde picked the family up just hours before the yacht was claimed by the waves.

Mr Lomas, an ex-Director of the National Training Organisation for Road Transport, said today: "The deck floor was awash with water and we were sinking in the most remote water on earth. We are so proud that a British warship came to our rescue."

He added: "The girls are in reasonable form. We have all been at sea for a long time and we all realised we were in a lot of danger.

He said the lost 18-metre Oyster, which has been the couple's home for five years during a round-the-world voyage, was like "one of the family".

It had taken them a total of 16,000 nautical miles, with the children visiting during school holidays, before it was finished by the iceberg.

Describing the collision he said: "When we struck the iceberg it was pitch dark. There was no warning - it was impossible to see it. There was a tremendous amount of noise. It was hard to assess how bad the damage was.

"All the systems and the alarms were going off. It was a good few hours before we realised. Our life was going slowly downhill. It was a race against time, very much so. Modern communications unquestionably helped us."

He paid tribute to the Navy and how well the family had been looked after. They are expected to complete their 1,000 miles journey to the Falklands aboard the Clyde by the middle of next week.

Falmouth Coastguard helped the Falkland Islands authorities locate the vessel - named Yacht Hollinsclough - which had taken on water and suffered engine failure.

Dramatic photographs of the rescue have been released by the Ministry of Defence.

According to the family's online blog, their latest travels began in March 2007 in Ipswich and have taken in Santander, Cape St Vincent, Salvador, Buenos Aires, Robinson Crusoe Island, Cape Horn, and recently South Georgia, before disaster struck.

Outgoing Marine Engineer Officer Lieutenant Robert Satterley, from Alverstoke, Hampshire, said earlier: "When we approached the yacht, we were relieved to see that there were four people alive and well. The yacht had sustained severe damage and lay low in the water and it was clear that the family had been through quite an ordeal."

The coastguard has likened the submerged iceberg to the one that sank the Titanic. A spokesman explained: "What they've hit is a 'growler', where hardly anything is out of the water and the majority is submerged. It is very similar to what the Titanic hit. You can track them by radar or visual lookout, but you can't see them all."