Two Calls for Whitstable Lifeboat Crews

On Wednesday afternoon the lifeboat was launched at 2.50pm following a report of a fishing vessel in difficulties in the vicinity of the Kentish Flats Windfarm.

The lifeboat arrived at the scene and the crew located a 30-foot former fishing vessel with two persons onboard with steering difficulties. The craft had been on passage from Strood to Folkestone.

A lifeboat crewmember went onboard the vessel and the decision was made that, as gales were forecast, the lifeboat would escort the craft to a mooring at Harty Ferry in the Swale.

At 4.56pm the vessel was placed on a mooring off the Harty Ferry causeway and the two occupants taken ashore.

On Friday evening the lifeboat was launched to assist a 30-foot motor cruiser with two persons onboard off Hampton Pier, Herne Bay which has suffered a fouled propeller.

The lifeboat arrived 'on scene' and a crewmember was transferred onboard to asses the situation. The craft was subsequently taken under tow to meet the Sheerness 'all weather' lifeboat which had been sent to assist, the tow being transferred at 6.56 and Whitstable Lifeboat was released to return to station.

Notes to editors:

Whitstable RNLI Lifeboat Station was established in 1963 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and is one of 237 lifeboat stations around the shores of the UK and Ireland. The volunteer crews provide a maritime search and rescue ser

vice for the Kent coast. They cover the area between the Kingsferry Bridge on the Swale, in the west, around the south-eastern side of Sheppey and along the coast through Whitstable and Herne Bay to Reculver in the east and outwards into the Thames Estuary.

The station is equipped with an Atlantic 85 lifeboat named Lewisco, purchased through a bequest of a Mrs Lewis of London who passed away in 2006.

She is what is known as a rigid inflatable inshore lifeboat, the boat’s rigid hull being topped by an inflatable sponson. She carries a crew of four people.

RNLI media contacts

• Chris Davey, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, Whitstable Lifeboat Station.
  07741 012004/ [email protected]

• Paul Dunt RNLI Press Officer London/southeast/east Tel: 0207 6207416 Mob: (07786) [email protected]

For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

Learn more about the RNLI

For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.

Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.