At around 1435 on the afternoon of 22nd January the operation to salvage the 51,770gt/2000 built Hoegh Osaka reached a critical stage. Over the previous week or so pumps had been placed aboard the ship whilst at Alpha Anchorage in the Solent off Lee-on-Solent, around one mile east of Bramble Bank where the vessel was deliberately grounded on the evening of 3rd January 2015 when a potential capsize situation arose. The rapid actions of the Captain and Pilot ultimately saved the ship and her crew, not to mention the cargo. The 52 degree list to starboard was reduced to 5 degrees as a result of pumping 300 tonnes of water from the ship, much of which was ingress via a hole punched in the hull by an excavator that broke loose during the incident. The tug Thorax was assigned to the ship at Alpha Anchorage, joining the Multratug 4, Ginger and Solent Towage’s Lomax. Williams Shipping work vessels and a helicopter ferried the Salvors to and from the Hoegh Osaka each day.