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Whitstable RNLI lifeboat assists angling boat

Lifeboats News Release

The Whitstable Atlantic 85 lifeboat Lewisco was launched on Tuesday morning to assist a 17-foot angling boat that had broken down and was taking on water a 1/2-mile east of Herne Bay Harbour.

Lewisco, the Whitstable Atlantic 85 lifeboat.

RNLI/Chris Davey

Lewisco, the Whitstable Atlantic 85 lifeboat.

Lifeboat helmsman Rob Judge said “We launched at 10.05am and on arrival at the scene found that the occupants, two adults and a female child had managed to get the ingress of water under control using the crafts own pump. We therefore took them under tow and landed the craft and occupants ashore at the ramp in Herne Bay Harbour and into the care of the mobile coastguard unit and then returned to station”


This was the 7th call of the year for the Whitstable Lifeboat.

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 Miss 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]




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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