Thames Coastguard requested the lifeboat to launch following a radio call from a motor cruiser "Lady Ceres" off Whitstable reporting a man onboard suffering a suspected heart attack.

The lifeboat located the vessel 1 mile offshore. Two crewman were put aboard to assess the casualty and give him oxygen, and a course was set towards Whitstable Harbour.  

The man was placed in a stretcher and then, once inside the harbour so that other members of the crew could assist, was transferred to the lifeboat before being landed ashore to a waiting ambulance.