Swanage, Dorset - At 6.15 p.m. on 18th June, 1969, the coastguard informed the honorary secretary that two men were clinging to a capsized dinghy off Durleston head. At 6.21 the life-boat R.L.P. was launched in a moderate south westerly wind with a choppy sea. It was one hour before low water. The life-boat came up with a shore-boat off Anvil point.

The shore-boat had been searching and found nothing. The life-boat searched westwards and the shoreboat eastwards and at 6.50 the lifeboat sighted the bows of the dinghy protruding from the water three quarters of a mile off Dancing Ledge.

An unconscious man was taken from the water a short distance away.

Resuscitation and heart massage were applied immediately by the life-boat crew. Two more men were takenfrom the sea by the shore-boat in an exhausted condition. They were transferred to the life-boat, wrapped in blankets and given warm drinks.

Efforts to revive the first man taken from the water continued until the life-boat returned to her station at 7.30. All three men were taken to hospital, but one of the men died..