Dover lifeboat, the 50ft Thames class Rotary Service, leaving harbour on Wednesday September 10, 1980, in a south-westerly gale to go to the help of an approaching West German yacht, Aquis Guana. The yacht, with a crew of nine, was on passage from Ostend to Plymouth when, in the rough seas, she took some water on board which flooded her engine room and put her electrical equipment, including her steering, out of action. Rotary Service was alongside Aquis Guana within five minutes, put a line aboard and towed her in to a safe anchorage.

photograph by courtesy of B. Knewitz.