Hartlepool, Co. Durham. At 10.30 on the night of the 9th October, 1961, the second coxswain told the honorary secretary that a Polish fishing vessel was aground near the old pier lighthouse.

At eleven o'clock, the life-boat The Princess Royal (Civil Service No. 7) was launched in a south-westerly wind of near gale force and a moderate sea. It was half an hour after low water. The life-boat found the fishing vessel Arka of Gdynia with a crew of ten bumping on the rocks and in a dangerous posi- tion. As the crew could sp3ak no English, the second coxswain was put aboard the vessel to help with the securing of a tow rope, and the vessel was then refloated. She was able to reach harbour under her own power, and the life-boat returned to her station, arriving at 12.30..