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A Dinghy (1)

DINGHY ON ROCKS Llandudno, Caernarvonshire. At 2.15 p.m. on i3th March, 1964, a member of the crew told the honorary secretary that he had seen a man in a dinghy being carried out of the Conway Estuary on the ebb tide. Visibility was poor and the dinghy had disappeared into the mist.

There was a fresh south-easterly breeze with a slight sea. While the coastguard arranged for a helicopter search the lifeboat crew assembled and at 4.5 it was decided to launch the life-boat The Lilly Wainwright and to search close inshore.

Twenty minutes later the helicopter spotted a dinghy on the rocks under the west coastguard look-out and a man was lowered into the life-boat to point out the position. Some life-boat helpers searching along the shore climbed down the rocks to investigate. The dinghy was found jammed on the rocks and was released by the shore-helpers, one of whom manned the boat which was then hauled back to the life-boat. A further search made from the sea and on shore was abandoned after everyone was satisfied that the occupant of the dinghy must have scrambled ashore and up the cliff. The life-boat returned to her station at six o'clock..