Thames CG requested the lifeboat to launch to assist the 23' motor cruiser Bluebird which had suffered an engine fire at the entrance to the Swale.

The fire was now out, but it had left the craft disabled.

The lifeboat located Bluebird, which had three people on board, half a mile SE of the Pollard Spit Buoy. A crewman was put aboard, and the craft was taken in tow for Whitstable Harbour.

It was moored alongside the South Quay, and met by Herne Bay Coastguard.