Hovercraft accident AT 1614 on the afternoon of Saturday March 30, 1985, the cross-channel hovercraft, Princess Margaret, radioed to Dover port control that she had collided with the breakwater on entering the harbour. It was cloudy with drizzle, there was a strong force 6 to 7 breeze blowing and eight to ten footswells were running into the western entrance to the harbour.

A minute later the maroons were fired and at 1622 the relief 52ft Arun class lifeboat, A. J. R. and L. G.

Uridge, on temporary duty at Dover, slipped her moorings in the western tug haven and headed at full speed for the outer harbour with Coxswain Tony Hawkins in command. During this short passage the Y class inflatable, carried on board the lifeboat, was made ready for launching and when the lifeboat reached the hovercraft at 1626 it was placed in the water. The two A frames for recovery from the water were also rigged and swung out in readiness.

There was a 50-foot gash in the hovercraft's starboard side reaching inboard to the starboard car-deck bulkhead and starting from a point about 15 feet forward of the stern. Wreckage from the side of the hovercraft, lifejackets, liferafts and seats were floating down-wind and the tug Dextrous and two motor launches Darg and Denise began to work in this area, searching for survivors. All four engines of the hovercraft were stopped and she had no skirt lift. People could be seen in the water among the flotsam and others were perilously perched in their seats over the damaged area. The hovercraft's crew were seen to be attending the injured and moving people forward.

Coxswain Hawkins immediately requested his two crew members aboard the Y class boat, Michael Abbott and Robert Bruce, to take it into the wrecked area inside the hovercraft. He then brought the lifeboat alongside, her bow pointing towards the hovercraft's stern, securing her with a single head rope.

Five people could be seen in the water among the wreckage and in order to help them into the strops from the lifeboat's recovery frames, Crew Member Robert Bruce entered the water.

A fractured fuel line on the hovercraft filled the whole area with kerosene and very strong fumes were affecting everyone in the vicinity. Rescue work was also hampered by an inflated liferaft, jammed within the wreckage and the whole area was a mass of tangled alloy with razor sharp projections.

However, by 1632, the five people, all male, one of whom was severely injured and another very elderly, had been taken on board the lifeboat by way of both the Y boat and the strops.

The second officer of the hovercraft was among those taken aboard the lifeboat after he too had entered the water to assist in the rescue. He then began resuscitation on the injured man who was unconscious and lifeboat crew member Alan Barker and Second Coxswain Roy Couzens carried out cardiac massage. The remaining survivors, all of whom were suffering severe shock and the effects of cold, were wrapped in blankets.

The lifeboat headed at full speed towards the tug haven where other lifeboat crew members, ambulance andpolicemen were waiting to take care of the survivors. While they were being taken off the lifeboat, the tug Dextrous and the two harbour launches recovered eight people and one body from a drifting liferaft and, together with the Y boat, were examining floating wreckage and lifejackets.

Back at the hovercraft at 1645, the lifeboat was asked to run a line from the hovercraft to the Prince of Wales pier to stop her drifting across the harbour. With the help of the Y boat, the full length of the lifeboat's towing and mooring lines was quickly used to secure the hovercraft which had been threatening to drift beyond the reach of any available mooring rope and on to a dredger which was anchored in the harbour.

The hovercraft's master then asked for a full evacuation and the lifeboat drew alongside the starboard midships and forward doors and took off sixty people who had been on the damaged side of the hovercraft. One of these passengers was on a stretcher and the rest were suffering from cuts, bruises and shock. All the time a five to six foot swell was moving the lifeboat as she lay alongside.

As the lifeboat drew away to off-load the passengers, Dextrous moved alongside and took off a further 185 people.

By 1725 the lifeboat had landed her first load and returned to her position alongside the hovercraft to take off the 115 passengers that were left. They were landed at 1806 and a final trip was made to take the eight cabin staff ashore.

Finally, the lifeboat was requested to act as a steering tug to help Dextrous tow the hovercraft to its landing pad. As the water shallowed, the tow was disconnected, the hovercraft gave a final thrust on two of her engines and, steered by the lifeboat, she was safely berthed at 1845.

The lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service at 1935. Later thatevening she launched again to search an area outside the harbour and to the east for two people who were presumed still to be missing. Nothing was found.

Following this service, a framed letter of thanks, signed by the chairman of the RNLI, the Duke of Atholl, was sent to Coxswain Anthony Hawkins, his crew and the RNLI shore party. Captain Stephen Parsons and the crew of the tug Dextrous, Mr Mike White and the crew of the launch Darg and Mr Ivor Eason and Mr John Pearce of the launch Denise also received framed letters of thanks from the chairman..