Happisburgh RNLI volunteers resumed a major search for second day
At 6.19 pm 12 September the pagers sounded to assemble the crew, who quickly arrived and readied the station's D-Class lifeboat, Russell Pickering, for action.
HM Coastguard informed the station this was a shoreline search for a vulnerable person from Waxham to Bacton. This was a low water search so would include groynes and reefs.
So with Pete Walker as helm and Harry Ronald and Ellis Speirs as crew, the D-Class started the search at 6.30 pm, starting at Sea Palling with a search around the reefs. The water was very low so some of the search had to be done by foot on the inside of the reefs while the boat went round the outside. After this was completed the crew moved up the coast, calling at Happisburgh station on the way past to pick up extra crew, Tom Hunn, then proceeded all the way up past Walcott, beaching the lifeboat from time to time to check the beach as the light had gone. HM Coastguard then tasked the crew to return to Sea Palling; en route they again stopped at the station to refuel and change a crew member with 'Churchy' joining the search. Once at Sea Palling they joined the Coastguard on the beach and a decision was made to call the search off. The crew returned to station at 10.30 pm so had been searching for 4 hrs.
Russell Pickering was recovered, cleaned and refueled and made ready for service again.
Happisburgh Station operate
Russell Pickering a D-Class lifeboat
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The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,700 lives.
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