Cargo shifted A MAYDAY distress call was received from the small Danish coaster Petit Folmer at 1025 on the morning of Thursday December 8, 1983, reporting that she was taking water, listing and needed assistance; she was 2l/2 miles east of the Varne Lightvessel. HM Coastguard telephoned the honorary secretary of Dover lifeboat station at 1026 and Dover's 50ft Thames lifeboat Rotary Service slipped her moorings and set out on service at 1035; she was under the command of Coxswain/Assistant Mechanic Anthony Hawkins. A fresh breeze, force 5, was blowing from the south west and the sea was rough with six-foot swell; visibility was two miles.

The lifeboat reached Petit Folmer at 1120 and a lifeboatman was put on board to liaise with the master. It was then found that she was not taking water but that her cargo of fertiliser had shifted, causing the list. The coaster was therefore escorted by Rotary Service to a sheltered small ship anchorage in the Downs where the lifeboatmen helped Petit Palmer's crew to shift the cargo back and trim the vessel. Once the coaster was back on an even keel the lifeboat escorted her round the South Goodwin Lightvessel, across the prevailing weather, and she was then able to continue her passage to Humber..