Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, Nor- folk. At 7.15 on the evening of the 13th December, 1961, the coastguard in- formed the honorary secretary that the drifter Star of Hope was stranded on the Scroby Sands and was asking for help. There was a light south-west-by- west breeze. It was cloudy and misty, and the sea was slight. At 7.23 the life- boat Louise Stephens was launched at low water. She found the Star of Hope aground on the south part of the sands.

The drifter was not anchored, although her engines had broken down. The life- boat anchored and then dropped down to the Star of Hope and fired a line over her. At this point the life-boat was bumping the bottom. The drifter's tow line was attached to the life-boat's veering line and made fast. The drifter was aground on a lee shore, and if the wind had freshened her position would have been very dangerous. Eventually the life-boat managed to pull the drifter's head round and towed her clear of the sands. She then towed her into Yar- mouth Roads, where the drifter's en- gines were started again, and escorted her into harbour. The life-boat reached her station at 9.26..