BRAVE lifeboat volunteers battled strong winds to find and investigate a drifting boat.
The Harwich RNLI crew were paged at 2.30pm last Friday after they moved the all-weather lifeboat to a more sheltered temporary berth.
This was due to the threat of a high tidal surge and gale force winds.
The lifeboat was quickly on the way to the position of the last reported sighting, just north of Woodbridge Haven.
On arrival there was no sign of the vessel and a Coastguard team was asked to check the river Deben entrance from the shore.
The adrift vessel was eventually found, swept further offshore than anticipated by the weather conditions.
The boat was unoccupied and had part of a mooring attached, suggesting it had broken its mooring in the river Deben.
With the skillful maneuvering of the lifeboat in challenging conditions, the crew were able to pick up the remains of the mooring and attach the tow rope.
Shortly after 6pm the lifeboat and stranded vessel arrived safely back at Harwich and the boat returned to the temporary berth ahead of a further tidal surge.
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