On Saturday 30 August at 8.03pm, inshore lifeboat George Bearman was tasked to locate a man drifting upriver in a toy inflatable. A member of the public had called Brixham Coastguard at 8pm.

Launching within seven minutes and locating the casualty within another 10 minutes, Crew volunteers were on scene near Powderham Castle. The man was not equipped for a night-time excursion on the river Exe and the toy inflatable boat was in danger of taking on water within minutes, due to the man’s weight.

Volunteers transferred the casualty to the D class lifeboat and in turn passed him over to the Exmouth coastguards waiting for him at Exmouth Marina.