[1] At 22:50 on 5 November the Esso Penzance sighted Pool Fisher about eleven miles south of Brighton, steering erratically and seemingly down by the head, in heavy seas.

[1] Within minutes Niton passed the information to the coastguard, which immediately alerted the Yarmouth and Bembridge lifeboats and scrambled SAR helicopters from Lee-on-Solent, and later from Portland and Culdrose.

The search and rescue operation was carried out, in severe weather conditions, by three Royal Navy warships, including HMS Cardiff, six merchant vessels and two lifeboats, assisted by four helicopters.

[2] The only two survivors from Pool Fisher, deckhands Donald Crane and Mark Fook, were both off-watch and asleep below when they were roused by the bosun and ordered on deck.

They were finally rescued by helicopters of the Fleet Air Arm[1] after spending over five hours holding on to cargo hatch boards from the sunken ship.