Missing divers found It was a family affair at Lyme Regis earlier this year when a lifeboat crew member's father and brother were instrumental in saving the lives of two divers.

On the afternoon of 9 May, three skin divers returned to Lyme Regis harbour in their 5m Chinook inflatable to report to the local harbourmaster that half-an-hour previously they had lost contact with two of their diving colleagues three miles west of the harbour.

Search At 1335, the crewmen in the lifeboat station were alerted and two maroons were fired to let the divers know a search was underway, which, it was later established, they heard. Five minutes later, the Atlantic 21 class lifeboat Independent Forester Benevolence was launched to start the search for the missing divers, joining an RN helicopter from Portland, which had picked up one of the diving team to help define the exact position of the last dive.

The Lyme Regis lifeboat reached the search area at 1350 in a south westerly Force 6 and very rough sea, with a 3mto 4m swell running. Exmouth lifeboat also left harbour at 1504 to assist in the search.

After an hour's search, it was suggested that the missing divers could be further east of the current search area and, at the suggestion of crew member Paul Wason, Mr John Wason - his father - agreed to put to sea to assist in the search in his fishing boat Sea Seeker, which was the only vessel that could safely leave harbour in the deteriorating weather conditions.

Located Together with his other son Chris, and James Thomas and Chris Bagnall, Sea Seeker left harbour at 1456 to search eastwards from the harbour while the lifeboat and helicopter continued their search south and west.

Half-an-hour later, at 1521, Sea Seeker was able to report that the divers had been located three-quarters of a mile off a nearby headland called Golden Cap.

Because of the bad weather conditions, it was not possible to take them on board so a line was streamed astern for the divers to cling to until the helicopter arrived. Both survivors were winched up by helicopter which landed them at Lyme Regis harbour where, after two-and-a-half hours at sea, they were checked over by the station's HMA Dr Llewelyn before leaving.

Sea Seeker returned to harbour and the lifeboat was back on station at 1620.

For his part in the rescue service, John Wason has been sent a letter of thanks from the Director of the RNLI, who wrote, 'Undoubtedly your local knowledge and intuition saved the lives of these two divers'..