Trawler sinking LATE ON THE NIGHT of Thursday June 6, 1985, the 53ft Dutch trawler Lindfar radioed Thames coastguard to say that she was aground, holed and taking water on the northern Gunfleet Sands.

The honorary secretary of Walton and Frinton lifeboat station was alerted and 17 minutes later, at 2301, the relief 47ft Watson class lifeboat, T.G.B., on temporary duty at Walton and Frinton, cleared her moorings off Walton pier and set a course south south east at full speed.The weather was poor; there was heavy rain and a strong north-northeasterly breeze, force 6. A helicopter from RAF Mansion, which had also been alerted by the coastguard, was grounded because of the wind and rain.

At 2318 Coxswain Dennis Finch, in command of the lifeboat, asked the trawler to fire a flare to show her position. Although the outward passage was in moderate sea, he knew that once he was near the shoal areas the sea would be worse and he wanted to head for the correct position on the Sands at the first attempt.

Eight minutes later the lifeboat received a message that the sand dredger Bow Knight was standing by one mile to the south of the trawler but, being in the East Swin channel, could not close because of her draft. Soon the lifeboatwas close to the shoaling area and, in the confused four to six foot seas, began to bottom on the sands. The trawler came into sight, hard aground, heading southward and already awash to the gunwales. Coxswain Finch realised how little time he had and drove the lifeboat on to the sands against the trawler's starboard side, actually riding on to her gunwale and deck ahead of the wheelhouse.

There were six people on board (two of them women) and they were lifted, one by one, over the lifeboat's port bow; they were all wearing lifejackets.

All the time quartering seas were washing over the lifeboat and she was bottoming heavily. As soon as Second Coxswain Robert Kemp signalled from the foredeck that all survivors were safely aboard, Coxswain Finch waited for a large sea and then drove the lifeboat full astern into deeper water.

By 2339 the lifeboat was clear and set a course for Walton, just as the trawler sank from sight. All the survivors were very cold and shocked; they were all attended by the crew and wrapped in blankets. One of the women said that she was pregnant and that she feared she had suffered abdominal injury as she had been lifted aboard. The honorary medical adviser and an ambulance were summoned by radio to meet the lifeboat on her return.Coxswain Finch knew that it would be too rough to land survivors at the pier and so he set course for Walton Backwaters.

Although uneventful, the return trip was uncomfortable with short steep seas and limited visibility in the rain. By 0115 the survivors had been landed at Titchmarsh Marina in the Backwaters and the injured woman, accompanied by one of the men, was taken to hospital in Colchester, the rest going to local accommodation for the night.

At the turn of the tide at 0350 the lifeboat left the marina to return to her mooring off the pier. She arrived at 0445, was refuelled and ready for service by 0515. The only damage she had suffered was slight abrasions on her paintwork where she had landed on the casualty.

Following this service the thanks of the Institution, inscribed on vellum were presented to Coxswain Dennis Finch and vellum service certificates were presented to Second Coxswain Robert Kemp, Assistant Mechanic Keith Richardson and Crew Members Owen Bloom, Bryan Ward, Brian Oxley, Gary Edwards and Stephen Moore..