 At just after 5 am, the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board's lifeboat station received a telegraph stating that a ship was in distress. Nine minutes later, the three-year-old tubular lifeboat set out with fourteen volunteers under the command of Captain James Martin. The steam tug Rattler initially took the Liverpool boat in tow, as the properties that made it suitable as a lifeboat also made it very heavy to row. At approximately the same time that the Liverpool lifeboat was departing Mersey Docks, the New Brighton, Formby and Hoylake boats also got underway, with the New Brighton RNLI boat in tow behind Sprindrift. The hurricane had abated somewhat, but the sea was still heavy, which made the rowers' work very difficult in shallower water where the tugs could no longer assist them.
