Busy Time for Whitstable Lifeboat

The crew located the casualty and he and his board were brought onboard the lifeboat and landed ashore back at the lifeboat station. The casualty was unharmed and not in need of medical attention.

Then on Monday night the lifeboat was launched at 11.59pm following a request to assist in a search for a person possibly in the water or mud off Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey.

The lifeboat arrived at the scene and assisted the coastguard shore team and police in a search of the area and was subsequently joined by the Sheerness ‘D’ Class inshore lifeboat which had also been launched to assist in the operation.

Whitstable Lifeboat was released from the incident when it was reported that a person was in the care of ambulance and police personnel on shore.

At 01.18am whilst returning to station the lifeboat was diverted to investigate a report of a 20-25 foot motor cruiser reported by a member of the public drifting ashore in the vicinity of the King’s Hall, Herne Bay.

On arrival a lifeboat crewmember went onboard the craft which was found to be secure but apparently abandoned.

At the request of the UK Coastguard at Dover the lifeboat crew conducted a search from the scene towards Reculver and then back to Herne Bay Harbour to ensure that there was nobody in the water.

Having completed the search and not having found anything untoward the lifeboat was released to return to station at just after 04.00am. It is believed that the motor cruiser had broken free from a mooring.

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 service 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.

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Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

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