Another busy weekend for the Sheerness RNLI Lifeboat crew
The volunteer crews of both the Sheerness lifeboats were called out over the weekend to separate incidents
The inshore lifeboat crew launched at 10.36pm on Saturday 17 June after being paged by the UK Coastguard to reports of red flares being seen in the Stoke area of the River Medway. The lifeboat arrived on scene at 11.00pm,nothing untoward was found other than a group of people enjoying a bonfire and fireworks on the shoreline.
The ILB was stood down but immediately re-tasked to check on reports of a large number of people on Grain Tower with concerns from Kent Police and the UK Coastguard as to their safety.
Having arrived at the tower the crew established that there were actually 69 people partying in and on the tower. All said that they were ok. The crew obtained a phone number from one of the people there, which was then forwarded to Kent Police.
The ILB was stood down at 11.37pm, and was ready for further service 00.50am
The all-weather lifeboat had been out on exercise on Sunday 18 June and had just returned to station when a request was made from the UK Coastguard for the lifeboat to assist a motor cruiser with 10 people onboard that had suffered machinery failure and was drifting close to the Red Sand Towers.
With the crew of six still onboard the lifeboat launched 1.30pm on was on scene 2.05pm where they found the casualty, now at anchor directly below one of the towers.
For safety, all the passengers were taken onboard the lifeboat and the casualty craft was under tow at 2.15pm
Southend lifeboat had been requested to launch to take over the tow, which it did at 4.00pm.
The Sheerness lifeboat then continued to Southend Pier where the passengers were landed safely.
For crew member Rachel this was her first shout as a qualified navigator and for new crew member Ric it was his first shout since joining the crew.
Well done to you both.
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 142,700 lives.
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