by Graham Tutthill

Dover Lifeboat crew have saved a converted fishing boat from sinking in Dover Harbour.

The alarm was first raised on Wednesday morning, August 26, when the boat, believed to have been built in 1940, started taking on water while in the English Channel off South Foreland.

The boat managed to get into the harbour but was in danger of sinking. Dover Lifeboat went alongside and the crew put a salvage pump on board.

This was hardly able to cope with the amount of water getting into the boat, and another pump was taken out by Dover Harbour Board launch. The lifeboat crew spent several hours pumping out the water and keeping the boat afloat.

When the tide was right the boat was taken into a special berth at the marina where the extent of the problem could be investigated and repairs carried out.