Gravesend lifeboat station sixth busiest in the country last year (From News Shopper)

Gravesend lifeboat station sixth busiest in the country last year

9:13am Friday 17th February 2012 in News By Alan Woods

GRAVESEND'S lifeboat team was again busy last year with figures showing it was the sixth busiest station in the country.

The boat was launched 117 times in 2011 compared to 114 in 2010, with the number of hours spent at sea more than trebling.

Crew members at the station, based in Royal Pier Road, assisted 42 people and spent 385 hours on the water in comparison to 122 during the previous 12 months.

The time spent at sea equates to more than 16 full days and of the launches, 46 were under the cover of darkness with two in dangerous ‘near gale’ conditions.

Station manager Ian Dunkley said: “The number of incidents shows how important it is to have a fast response service which deals with incidents that happen in a fast moving environment.

“Because we get there early, incidents don’t become more serious than they otherwise might be.

“There’s no logical reason at all why there have been more launches but it keeps us in a job.”

Mr Dunkley explained how one of the most challenging call outs happened outside the station in March last year, when a pilot collapsed as he boarded his ship.

The ship had to begin moving while the crew attended to the pilot as the tide was going out and the ship ran the risk of running aground.

He said: “We kept our two first-aiders on board to look after the pilot while crew members had to keep the life boat following the ship.

“They took it right out into the far reaches of the Thames Estuary while we waited for the helicopter to come down from Norfolk.”

Mr Dunkley added: “It took us well outside of our regular operation area and was quite exciting for the crew concerned.”

Tower lifeboat station, based at Waterloo Bridge, was the busiest station in the country with 522 launches.

Five year launch statistics

2007 - 84 launches

2008 - 93 launches

2009 - 125 launches

2010 - 114 launches

2011 - 117 launches