This in from George on behalf of Cowes RNLI. Ed
Cowes lifeboat was launched late last night (Monday) to assist a small motor-cruiser marooned in oozing mud, with a heavily pregnant woman and four small children among the seven occupants.
Two of the lifeboat crew, Graham Creagh and Peter Murphy-Latham, had to negotiate waist-high mud to reach the motor-cruiser, the Lady Matilda, stranded in the River Medina, north of the Folly. After it was considered too dangerous for the occupants to be transferred ashore across the mud bank, there then followed an hour-long battle to refloat the cruiser in a receding tide.
Dragged to deeper water
Finally, with the help of a long tow-rope attached to the lifeboat the cruiser was dragged into deeper water, enabling it to be towed to the Folly pontoon. There the craft was met by Newport coastguard, which had been earlier requested to attend by the lifeboat.
Apparently having no VHF radio aboard the cruiser, the crew had alerted Solent coastguards to their plight by mobile phone. It was also found that none of the occupants were wearing lifejackets.
Mud caked lifeboat and crew
The lifeboat had been launched at 10.45pm. Although it returned to station 20 minutes after midnight the lifeboat volunteers were not able to return home for over an hour after this; the reason was they then had the task of removing all the mud from the lifeboat as well as the two mud-caked crew.
