THE RNLI were on hand to save a powerless boat stranded next to a historic Maldon ship.

The West Mersea Lifeboat team were called out by the coastguard in the middle of the day to a boat that had run out of fuel, tied alongside the famous Ross Revenge, the home of Radio Caroline in Maldon Quay.

The two crews acted quickly to recover the boat and bring it to safety, at St Lawrence Holiday Park.

Following this incident on August 5, the West Mersea team have been very busy.

On August 8, they were called out to a medical emergency by the East of England Ambulance Service on Osea Island.

A spokesman said: "The Coastguard once again paged us for immediate launch at 5.20pm to support the East of England Ambulance Service with a medical evacuation of an 18-year-old casualty with chest pain from Osea Island as the tide was covering the causeway.

"A doctor was treating the casualty on Osea prior to our arrival and was transported to Marconi Sailing Club at Stansgate with the casualty to meet an ambulance.

"We returned to station at 6.45pm."