SICK MAN TAKEN OFF RUSSIAN FREIGHTER Lytham-St. Anne's, Lancashire. At 4.30 on the afternoon of the 4th October, 1962, a message was received that the freighter Zenit of Leningrad, which was anchored off the Nelson buoy, had a man on board with appendicitis and had asked for a doctor. Owing to the state of the tides it would not be possible for the Zenit to enter Preston for about five days. There was a light south-east breeze with a slight sea. At five o'clock the life-boat Sarah Townsend Porritt was launched on the ebbing tide with a doctor on board. The Zenit was reached and the sick man taken on board. He was brought ashore and taken to hospital. The ship's doctor and navigating officer also came ashore in the lifeboat.

The sick man needed an operation immediately. The h'fe-boat returned to her station at 8.45..