Thames Coastguard requested the lifeboat to
launch following a VHF radio message reporting a collision between two
sailing barges taking part in the annual Swale Barge Match.
The
80-foot long, 1901 built wooden sailing barge Marjorie, with nine
on board, suffered a 4-foot wide gash in her port side when she and
the steel sailing barge Repertor collided off the Isle of Sheppey.
The
lifeboat arrived on scene to find the Marjorie had already been
beached to prevent it sinking but water was already up to the level of the
floor in the former hold. Two members of the lifeboat crew went aboard
with a salvage pump and started operations to pump out the casualty.
Two
small children and their mother were taken off the barge and transferred
to the tug X-Pilot which had been shadowing the race. The lifeboat
then collected further salvage pumps from the sailing barges Gladys
and Repertor and transferred them to the Marjorie.
The
Marjorie’s crew managed to patch the hole in the side using plywood and
a tarpaulin and when all was ready the lifeboat passed a towline to the X-Pilot
who managed to tow the stricken craft from the sandbank and into
deeper water.
Once clear the tow was dropped and the Marjorie was able to make
her own way under engine power to Faversham.
Following
this the lifeboat crew became aware of another vessel, a gaff rigged yawl Sally
B, hard aground a ˝-mile from the Sand End Buoy in the entrance to
the Swale.
The
lifeboat put a crewman onboard the craft to assist and waited for the tide
to flood before towing the craft off. The Sally B then made her own
way to a mooring at Hollowshore in Faversham Creek.
WHITSTABLE
LIFEBOAT
