Margate, Kent. At 10.50 on the night of the 27th of June, 1959, the coastguard told the coxswain that a yacht was ashore on the Margate sands.

At eleven o'clock the life-boat North Foreland (Civil Service No. 11) was launched in a rough sea, with a fresh south-westerly wind blowing and an ebb tide. She found the yacht Panda of London with six people on board aground on the north spit of the sands.

The yacht was almost on her port beam ends and her decks were awash. Her crew decided to remain on board if possible and asked if the life-boat would stand by. The coxswain agreed to do so, and although the yacht was pounded by the very heavy seas, she refloated on the flood tide and con- tinued her passage to Dover. The life-boat returned to her station at four o'clock on the morning of the 28th.

Rewards to the crew, £16 13s. ; rewards to the helpers on shore, £5 19s..