Harbour accident THE LIFEBOAT CALL-OUT paging signal alerted Second Coxswain Christopher Tett of Weymouth on the afternoon of Easter Monday, March 31. 1986. He drove straight to the lifeboathouse, and as he made his way inside he noticed groups of young men on both sides of the harbour, many of whom had been drinking heavily, noisily celebrating the end of a hockey festival.

He saw one man dive off the far side of the harbour and thought to himself that to swim across the harbour would be impossible in such cold water. The weather was squally and the strong westerly breeze was creating waves of about one foot in the harbour.

Just then, a young woman burst into the boathouse shouting 'there's a boy out there drowning'. Already she had tried to persuade the young men on the quay to go after him. but they took it as a joke. Second Coxswain Tett assuming it was the swimmer from the far side of the harbour, dashed outside and saw a man in difficulties near the stern of thelifeboat, only his head and one arm were showing. Kicking off his seaboots, he went down to the water, waded out to the edge of the bank and swam out to the man.

He found him barely conscious, blood and puss were coming from his ears and he was delirious. Shouting to the shore for help, Christopher Tett turned the young man on to his back into the towing position and set off for the bank. Sally Lovett, the young woman who had raised the alarm, fully dressed, helped the second coxswain from the edge of the bank to the steps where Crew Member David Pitman helped to lift him from the water.

Others now gathered round and the man was carried into the boathouse and placed on a thermal blanket.

The young woman, who was an SRN on holiday now took complete charge until an ambulance arrived to take the man to hospital. He had, in fact, dived off the quay into only two foot of water and probably landed on an old concrete grid. His severe neck injuries left him paralysed from the arms down.

Christopher Tett. meanwhile had changed into dry clothing and boarded the lifeboat to join his fellow crew members on the service for which he had originally been alerted. This was to go to the aid of an injured seaman aboard an Irish ship 26 miles to the south east of Weymouth. When the lifeboat reached the ship, she was found to be completely without power or electricity, and after the injured man had been taken aboard in a strong westerly breeze, gusting to gale force 8 and a rough sea, the lifeboat stood by until a sister ship was able to put a towline aboard.

For this part in saving the life of the man in the harbour, Second Coxswain Christopher Tett was accorded the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum, and Nurse Sally Lovett was sent a formal letter of thanks signed by Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, RNLI director..