Taking doctors to a casualty is fairly common - but the crew of New Brighton's Atlantic were called on to ferry local dentist Neil Thomas to the Greek master of the coaster Porta Aistissa on 2 January 1989.

The master had a dental abscess which had prevented him from sleeping for four days. He refused to be taken ashore and the Atlantic, Blenwatch, returned to pick up the dentist who extracted the tooth on the ship with the help of lifeboatman Bob Barrass. Neil Thomas described the nine-mile, high-speed dash in lumpy conditions as 'the ride of a lifetime'..