At the request of the Government a rescue craft provided by the Royal National Life-boat Institution is now stationed aboard a lightvessel, from which she may be used for life-saving purposes. The experiment is a joint venture by the R.N.L.I, and Trinity House and is the outcome of discussions between the two organisations following recent shipwrecks near the Varne.

One of the R.N.L.I.'s standard IRBs is now aboard a wreck marking vessel near the Varne lightvessel off the Kent coast. She is manned by Trinity House personnel who have been trained by Lieut. George Cooper, R.N.R., a member of the R.N.L.I.'s staff..