Margate’s all-weather lifeboat, the sturdy 12m Mersey class Leonard Kent, was dwarfed by the vessel to which she was called out on 2 December.

A Russian cargo ship was anchored, waiting for better weather to continue her voyage, when the master had a suspected heart attack. Doctors recommended immediate evacuation, and the volunteer lifeboat crew soon had him ashore, in the care of the ambulance service.