Appledore, Devon. At 12.20 a.m.

on 15th December, 1963, the coastguard informed the honorary secretary that the motor vessel Whitehaven, of Newcastle, had a seriously injured seaman aboard who had severed a thumb and needed hospital treatment. The life-boat Louisa Anne Hawker left her moorings at 1.9 in a light north-easterly breeze and a calm sea. It was two hours after low water. The lifeboat met the Whitehaven near the Fairway buoy. The injured seaman was transferred to the life-boat after the life-boat's motor mechanic, a qualified first-aider, had boarded the motor vessel to examine him. The seaman was landed and taken to hospital by ambulance. The life-boat reached her moorings at five o'clock..