Emergency crews came to the rescue of a boater whose vessel was stranded at the bottom of a cliff after losing its engine.

An RNLI crew was called after a motor cruiser with one man onboard was seen going aground at Warden Point, Sheppey.

The seven-metre boat had to be towed to safety by the Whitstable lifeboat after it got into difficulty on Wednesday afternoon.

Launching at 3.56pm the Whitstable Atlantic 85 lifeboat Lewisco arrived on the scene in just seven minutes.

They found the craft aground and starting to struggle at the foot of cliffs while under the observation of the Sheppey Coastguard Rescue Team – at the time it was uncertain if the vessel was occupied.

As lifeboat crewmember Dave Parry was preparing to go ashore to investigate the situation the man onboard appeared at the cabin door and confirmed he required assistance as his craft had lost its external engine.

Mr Parry made his way onto the vessel and a tow was passed to the lifeboat which then pulled the stricken cruiser from the shoreline and towed it around to the South Eastern side of Sheppey to Hollowshore at the entrance to Oare Creek, Faversham.

Lifeboat Helmsman Ben Crosswell said: “Thanks must go to the first informant onshore who alerted the coastguard to the vessel's plight.

“Once we had assessed the crafts situation it was a straightforward job to tow the vessel to the nearest safe berth.”

Joining Helm Crosswell and crew members Dave Parry and Ollie Myhill was trainee crewmember, Will Smith.

Will joined the station a year ago after moving to Whitstable from Birmingham.

He said: “Although I have been out on the boat on exercise many times this was my first operational call and it was really good to be with such a cracking good crew.

“I have always been interested in the work of the RNLI but there was not much call for their services in Birmingham so when I moved to Whitstable I thought I would give it ago, I think I’m the first Brummie to go to sea in the Whitstable lifeboat.”

This was the fourth call of the year for the Whitstable volunteer lifeboat crew.