Whitstable Lifeboat  was requested by Thames Coastguard to assist the 35ft Ketch Smile with five persons onboard after she had broken down with an overheating engine and was becalmed in the vicinity of the Hook Spit north of Reculver.

The lifeboat crewed by Richard Judge, Jon Carter and Mike Keam located the casualty vessel and took her under tow for an anchorage off Whitstable Harbour, an operation lasting nearly 1½-hours.

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