Dramatic sea rescue leads to award
One, two, three ... jump.
That was the only option for three Tasmanian fishermen whose stricken vessel was fast approaching rocks.
Luckily for the lobster hunters a rescue team was on hand.
Fighting 12-metre waves and winds whipping up to 130km/h, Sergeant John Pratt was one of two policemen in an inflatable vessel nearby, ready to pluck the men from the water.
"The plan was for them to jump one at a time but in the heat of the moment they all jumped together and then we were faced with a mad scramble to reach each of them," Sgt Pratt told AAP.
After spending a week at sea working on the commercial craft the men had been drifting for almost nine hours after a mechanical failure left them exposed to the ravages of the seas off southern Tasmania near Maatsuyker Island.
"When we first reached them we could see the anchor and chain had come loose and were flapping around," Sgt Pratt recalled ahead of the presentation of bravery awards on Thursday night.
"Another 10 minutes and the boat would have been on the rocks."
Sergeant Pratt and three of his Tasmania Police colleagues - Senior Constable Robert Round, Senior Constable Darren Leary and Inspector Lee Renshaw - from marine and rescue services responded to a distress call from the fishing boat on January 2.
The rough weather conditions had already forced the abandonment of a helicopter rescue, so the crew of four aboard police vessel Van Diemen, went to the rescue.
Sergeant Pratt and Const Leary were deployed in a smaller inflatable craft to rescue the men.
"The huge swells had breaking waves on top of them; by the time we were finished our boat was half-filled with water and carrying five men," Sgt Pratt said of the roughest rescue he's been involved with.
For their efforts, the crew of the Van Diemen and on-shore colleague Senior Constable Ben Cunningham will receive the Australian Search and Rescue Award.
The national awards - decided by a council comprising federal government, defence, and state and territory police representatives - recognise rescuers whose actions have saved human lives.
The rescued fishermen suffered shock and hypothermia after their ordeal and have since returned to the seas, Sgt Pratt said.
