Marine Rescue Port Stephens farewelled one of their own on February 7, Barney Pinney, who died of mesothelioma in December, aged 72.
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Members formed a guard of honour along the Nelson Bay breakwall as a tribute to the former coxswain, watch officer and boats officer. His ashes were then scattered at sea by family and crew of the rescue vessel PS31.
Pinney was born in 1948 in Birmingham, England. His family moved to Burgess Hill in Sussex where Barney joined the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm training on jet provosts in preparation for conversion onto Hawker Hunters.
In 1966 he successfully applied for Air Traffic Control Training in Australia, and was posted to Sydney Air Traffic Control in a career that spanned 27 years.
During this time, he studied at Charles Sturt University, graduating with a bachelor of applied science in industrial maths in 1986.
Upon retirement in November 2007, Barney moved to Port Stephens with his soulmate Merril. They purchased a large catamaran which they very much enjoyed sailing from its berth at Soldiers Point.
Fellow crew member Will Scott said that Pinney was a most active member of MRPS for eight years and had many skills which ranged from being a very competent and trusted skipper, skilled navigator (and lecturer) to engineer and systems expert.
"He was always willing to share and pass on his knowledge and wide-ranging experiences."
On April 21, 2015, Barney was crew on the Danial Thain during the rescue of the crew off Reef Dragon. He was one of the crew that took to the Y-class lifeboat and motored to the distressed vessel in treacherous conditions to pick up the crew.
The rescue won the 2015 National Search and Rescue Award presented to the crew in Brisbane. Eight bells were sounded representing the end of the watch on a ship.