Wells RNLI carried out an RNLI diver rescue on Sunday after a dive vessel suffered engine failure three nautical miles off Wells-next-the-Sea. The vessel left two divers drifting in the water after it could not return to them safely, and volunteer crews moved quickly to recover them.
The divers were taken aboard by the inshore lifeboat Peter Wilcox and the all-weather lifeboat Duke of Edinburgh. They required no further medical treatment, while the disabled vessel remained stranded offshore.
Humber Coastguard and Wells RNLI
Humber Coastguard alerted Wells RNLI lifeboats once the vessel ran into trouble while diving at wrecks off the Blakeney coast. The response used both lifeboats already named for the station’s service, with one craft going to the divers and the other standing by the vessel.
The vessel could not restart its engine, leaving it stranded and potentially hazardous to other vessels. That left the crews with two tasks at once: recover the divers first, then secure the boat before anything else in the area had to deal with a drifting obstruction.
Wells Harbour and Wells Town Quay
The all-weather lifeboat towed the vessel back to Wells Harbour, while the inshore lifeboat stayed with it throughout the journey and assisted with docking at Wells Town Quay. The sequence shows how the response shifted from rescue to recovery once the divers were safe.
RNLI also stressed that vessels should be well maintained, carry reliable communication equipment and let someone ashore know their plans before going out. For crews on the water, that is the practical difference between a breakdown that becomes a short delay and one that turns into a rescue.
What caused the engine failure was not stated, but the outcome was clear: two divers were brought back without injury, and the stranded boat was returned under tow rather than left adrift off Wells-next-the-Sea.
