FIREMEN TAKEN TO MOTOR BARGE Margate, Kent. At 2.26 on the morning of the 18th March, 1962, the coastguard informed the honorary secretary that red flares had been seen four and a half miles north-east of the coastguard look-out. The life-boat North Foreland (Civil Service No. 11) was launched at 2.50 in a gentle north-easterly wind and a moderate sea. It was two and a half hours before low water. At 3.5 the master of the motor barge Nicola Dawn of Rochester informed the coxswain that his engine room was flooded and he needed a pump urgently, as his motor pump had fallen in the bilge and the hand pump was choked. The life-boat immediately returned to the pier to collect a pump from the fire brigade and returned, with the pump and five firemen on board, to the barge, which had now anchored a quarter of a mile off the pier. By 5.50 the engine room had been pumped dry and a loose sea-cock connection had been repaired. The master then asked the coxswain of the life-boat if he would escort the barge to Sandwich.

As the fire brigade's services were no longer needed, the firemen and their pump were landed and the life-boat and the barge left for Sandwich at 6.15. The wind had increased to a fresh breeze and there were heavy snow squalls. Off Ramsgate the master of the barge called the life-boat alongside to inform the coxswain that he was taking in water fast; there were already two or three feet of water in the engine room and pumps were needed again. The coxswain advised him to continue to Ramsgate harbour, and the life-boat went ahead to arrange with the fire brigade for a pump to be ready as soon as the barge reached the harbour, which she entered about eight o'clock. Once again the engine room was pumped dry and the seacock was found to be leaking. The master made contact with the owners of the Nicola Dawn, who arranged for a mechanic to be sent to make a permanent repair. The life-boat was no longer required, and she returned to her station, which she reached at 10.45. Because of the conditions on the slipway she could not be rehoused until the 20th March..