It may have been a fairly straightforward service but there were some interesting sidelines. In the words of Captain Cowell, the station's honorary secretary at Douglas in the Isle of Man: 'At 1055 on Sunday 1 June the lifeboat, having been refuelled, was covered in soap ready to be washed down when I overheard a conversation between Harbour Control, an unidentified yacht and Liverpool MRSC which indicated that there was a serious incident potential. Immediately all washing operations were suspended and the boat restored to sea going condition.

'At 1100 Liverpool MRSC telephoned requesting immediate launch to assist a yacht which, having just left Douglas harbour, lost power before clearing the headland and was being swept by wind and tide on to the rocks underneath the lighthouse.

'At 1103 Sir William Hillary left the slipway looking for all the world like a giant shaving brush as, leaving the slip hook, she gathered speed and a froth of soapy foam blew back from her upperworks. As the hull entered the water the sea surface frothed with soapy residue at the base of the slip and she left behind a trail of buckets and brushes to be collected later from the slipway.

'Rounding the breakwater the 24ft yacht Martlet with four people on board, was immediately visible, now 30m from the rocks and closing fast. The crew seemed to be mesmerised by the breaking water on the rocks and the jerky motion in the short steep seas and declined to leave the safety of the cockpit to connect a tow line. At 1107 the Third Coxswain was landed aboard and quickly secured the line - the tow proceeding at 1109.

'At 1116 lifeboat and casualty under tow entered the harbour and Martlet was released and made fast to the yacht pontoon at 1118.

'On the previous service the lifeboat, towing the casualty Freelance into the inner harbour, had passed Martlet outward bound...'.