When the boat of local fisherman, Ken Roberts, was found washed up ashore, the pilots of Midwest Ports at Geraldton were called on for a search and rescue mission.
While rescue isn’t part of skipper Scott Sherrington and deckhand Travis Campbell on the Pilot vessel, Jorgensen’s regular duties, a call for help from emergency services quickly sent them out to sea.
Mid West Ports harbour master, Heathcliff Pimento said he was disappointed that the pilots involved in the rescue hadn’t been given credit by local news outlets.
He told Daily Cargo News that conditions the January day of the rescue were far from perfect and the pilot vessel was not really equipped for search and rescue in the turbulent seas of the day.
But Mssrs Sherrington and Campbell said they were well trained to handle the conditions and the mission.
It was the second rescue Mid West pilots had been involved in, in a matter of weeks.
“On the 22 January we were contacted by the harbour master’s office to potentially assist with a search for a missing person,” Mr Sherrington said.
Scott Sherrington and Travis Campbell were recognised
for their rescue effort. Image: Mid West Ports
A small vessel had been reported found underway with nobody on board by a local fisherman who raised concerns with local sea rescue group Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR), who in turn contacted the harbour master's office.
“We simply mobilised a pilot vessel and myself and Travis left from Mid West Ports main basin and made our way to a search area. We made the decision to look at the main channel first to check the channel beacons,” Mr Sherrington said.
“That was an obvious place that may have been where the person missing could have swum, but that didn't result in anything. So then, under the direction of WA Police, we conducted a line search in an east-west direction starting to the north of town and moving east-west back towards Mid West Ports where we were able to locate the missing person.”
Fisherman Ken Roberts was pretty fatigued after three hours in the water and was showing signs of hypothermia.
Having notified the harbour master they had found the fisherman and got him on board the two men gave him first aid treatment.
“We had the equipment on board such as blankets and towels which helped to warm him up and gave him oxygen.
“Heath was able to organise an ambulance to be ready back at Mid West Ports for when we arrived back with the patient.”
The fisherman was very relieved to see the pilot boat.“We've since caught up with him because he wanted to catch up with us and shake our hands personally and thank us, so it was a good experience.”
The search lasted for around two-and-a-half hours.
The first thought was to search the many beacons in the area, thinking Mr Roberts might be clinging to one of them, but once that proved fruitless they started a search pattern.
Mr Pimento said the search had been a real needle-in-a-haystack kind of search.
“He didn't have any high-vis clothes, nothing, and he was down in the water, just his head above it. He had a partially deflated flotation aid. And when our guys saw him, it was just like one weak hand and a head popping out.
“To find somebody like that, I give a lot of credit to these guys. And especially when they're not trained in search and rescue.”
"... generally speaking, it's not a rescue vessel and operating that vessel in the sea conditions to rescue somebody is very different from operating a normal vessel"
Heathcliff Pimento, Mid West Ports harbour master
Mr Pimento said the environmental conditions were also against them because the pilot vessel is not a rescue vessel.
“And Scott and Travis are not really trained for rescue. They are trained for overboard drills, such as if a pilot falls overboard.”
“And we do have the equipment on board to activate the man overboard rescue,” Mr Sherrington said.
“We have a platform which goes into the water and they do the training of how to put the person on the platform.”
“But generally speaking, it's not a rescue vessel and operating that vessel in the sea conditions to rescue somebody is very different from operating a normal vessel in sea conditions or a rescue vessel in the sea conditions that they operated in,” Mr Pimento said.
Mr Campbell said they were used to operating in adverse conditions.“It's just that performing a rescue in those conditions is a lot different than our normal operations, where we're primarily a pilot vessel,” Mr Campbell said.
“So when we're involved in rescues, seeing the recovery of the person on the man overboard ramp, it's memorable.
“And to add to that, Scott's been with the port for almost 20 years and he's been involved in a couple of sea search and rescues and recoveries as well, but this was the first for myself, so having the experience of Scott to lean against was great.”
Mr Campbell said the drills performed on the vessel, the man overboard drills and the first aid tickets they hold are also important.”
The previous rescue by pilots a couple of weeks earlier involved a swimmer from Town Beach who was recovered by a different pilot vessel when he lost his sense of direction.
Mr Pimento said on that occasion it had taken a passing port worker to suggest asking the marine team to send a vessel out.
“It happens pretty often, and the team always goes out because we are one of the first people who can actually launch.
‘While we do have an emergency medical rescue, it's all based on volunteers, and they have to put the boat in which is located at the marina, but they have to get the volunteers out, whereas we are manned 24/7.
“The pilot boat skippers just jump in and once they have approval, they go out to help.”
The pilot vessels at Mid West Ports are called out perhaps 10 times a year for rescues of one sort or another, from the recovery of vessels off the beaches, and vessels breaking down at sea to people in the water.
Mr Sherrington said often small recreational vessels ran out of fuel and needed to be towed back in.
“These things happen on and off, and honestly, we don't have a full record of it, because it's a day-to-day thing,” Mr Sherrington said.
“We don't make a big issue about it, but I think this one, since it didn't catch the media attention it deserved, we are doing something about it,” Mr Pimento said.
“We delivered old mate, put him onto the ambulance, and then we did two ship movements in the afternoon,” Mr Sherrington said.
This article appeared in the February | March 2026 edition of DCN Magazine