Shipwrecked fisherman Robert (Bobby) Lambe has called for search and rescue facilities to be provided in Bermuda after his crew were lost at sea.

The 35-year-old skipper, who was plucked from treacherous seas following the fishing tragedy in which Alan Edness, 56, and Micah Battersbee, 29, died, said the Island needed to be able to react quickly to similar events.

Mr. Lambe returned home on Saturday night after spending ten days at sea following his rescue from the Atlantic by American hospital ship USNS Comfort.

He was allowed to disembark the vessel in Spain on Friday and spoke to The Royal Gazette at length soon after about his ordeal.

In an exclusive in depth interview in the heart of Madrid, he said: "Everyone has talked about the fact that Bermuda does not have a rescue boat or aircraft for years now. We have helicopter and plane pilots on the Island, I know that Mr. (Michael) Smatt has a helicopter.

"I think they (authorities) should do something. We need something that can get to sea and stay firm in bad weather, that's all we need."

However, Mr. Lambe, of Beach Estate, Somerset, said he did not know whether a rescue boat on the Island would have saved the lives of his crewmen, who have believed to have gone down with the boat New Nuts.

He added: "Whether it would have saved Alan or Micah? - that's a hard question to answer.

"We can't say that but they could save other lives in future.

"Plus, we get people that turn yachts loose every year around the Island; they get off yachts because of bad weather or because they get scared.

"A rescue boat could be used for that."

Mr. Lambe said his drowned crewman Mr. Edness, of St. Anne's Road, Southampton, had also talked openly in the past about Bermuda's need for better search and rescue facilities.

Mr. Lambe added: "Alan talked about that some time back - years ago.

"That was one of the reasons I got my 70-foot boat (Ark Angel) - for salvage work and to help pick people up in distress."

Mr. Edness' long term partner Catherine Lymbery, also the mother of his 13-year-old daughter Alex, told The Royal Gazette last week: "Alan had decided to retire from fishing at the end of 2002 and had just sold his boat Lady Gambler, yet he continued to be a strong advocate and spokesperson for the rights of fishermen, that he felt so passionately were not being addressed.

"It is a hard and unforgiving industry, unappreciated, yet essential to the Island. Ironically, he was also a strong advocate for a local Coast Guard station on the Island."

Last week, Burton Ingham, the skipper of the tug Powerful, which set out to try and rescue the crew of the New Nuts, also called for a dedicated rescue vessel.

Mr. Ingham revealed it took three hours to prepare Powerful to leave Dockyard for the search, and even then it could only travel at around 12 knots.

He believes Bermuda should get its own dedicated rescue vessel, but said any new craft would have to be extremely heavy to cope with the turbulent conditions of the search for the New Nuts.

The three fishermen left Bermuda on Monday, January 6, in search of the abandoned yacht Altair.

They were returning to the Island the following day as the weather began to worsen, and were about 70 miles off the North East coast when tragedy struck.

A freak wave hit the boat, causing it to overturn and sink just 20 minutes later.

Mr. Lambe managed to escape, however, Mr. Edness and Mr. Battersbee, of Dock Hill, Devonshire, were never seen again.

The skipper floundered in mountainous seas for an incredible 20 hours before eventually being picked up by the Comfort, an American hospital ship which was on its way to the Persian Gulf.

As the warship was on official manoeuvres, it had to continue on its journey uninterrupted and was only able to drop Mr. Lambe off on Friday.