The lifeboat launched to a report of two people cut off by the tide off Swalecliffe. As the lifeboat was proceeding, Herne Bay Coastguard reported that the people had now got into a small dinghy, and were heading slowly towards the shore.

The lifeboat came alongside the dinghy to find that the occupants were fishermen. They had got out onto the sandbank for a walk, and had not been in any difficulty.

The lifeboat therefore returned to station.

Their dinghy, being on the seaward side of the bank, had not been initially visible to either the first informant or the Coastguard, and so it had appeared that the two men were on the bank with no means of getting ashore.