GIRL FOUND IN WATER BY TANKER'S BOAT Southend-on-Sea, Essex. At 10.28 on the night of the 6th April, 1962, the coastguard informed the honorary secretary that cries for help had been heard by the crew of the tanker Hamilton Trader, which was anchored a quarter of a mile south of the boom.

The life-boat Greater London II (Civil Service No. 30) was launched at 10.48 in a moderate westerly wind and a choppy sea. She took a small dinghy with her. It was an hour and a half after low water. In the meantime a small boat which had been launched from the tanker had rescued a girl and brought her back to the tanker. As soon as the life-boat reached the scene the coxswain sent the small dinghy to search near the shore, as several other people were reported to be in the water. The lifeboat went alongside the Hamilton Trader and took on board the girl who had been rescued. She was landed at Southend, where she was taken to hospital. The life-boat then returned to the area where the dinghy had been searching. The people in the water were found to be policemen who had waded in to help, and the dinghy was therefore picked up and the life-boat returned to her station, which she reached at three o'clock in the morning. The father of the girl made a donation to the branch funds and a gift to the life-boat crew..