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The Russian S.S. Smolensk

ANKLE SET ON PASSAGE Humber, Yorkshire. At 11.18 a.m.

on i9th August, 1965, a message from a doctor was received saying that a man on board the Russian S.S. Smolensk of Riga had broken a leg and required a doctor.

The vessel was in Spurn anchorage and at 11.55 the life-boat City of Bradford HI was launched with a doctor on board in a gentle south-westerly breeze and a smooth sea. It was one hour after high water. The doctor was put aboard the Smolensk and after attending the injured man, who had broken an ankle, returned to the life-boat. The doctor wanted the life-boat to land the man but the vessel's captain declined, saying that the vessel would be in Hull the next day.

The life-boat returned to her station at 1.35 p.m. At 7 o'clock the coxswain superintendent received a message from the doctor that the agents of the Russian vessel had informed him that the Smolensk would be at anchor for another seven days and requested the life-boat to bring the injured man ashore for hospital treatment. The doctor asked to be taken out the next morning and at 10.30 a.m.

on the 2Oth the life-boat was launched with the doctor and a bone specialist on board.

The injured man was taken aboard at 11.20 and his ankle was set in plaster by the doctors on the passage to Spurn. The injured man was accompanied by a Russian interpreter and another crew member requiring dental treatment. The three Russians were taken to hospital by ambulance and the life-boat reached her station at noon..