RNLI radio rescue at Welney
A radio lost by a crew rescue on the River Great Ouse in July, resurfaced and was rescued by WWT Welney. The radio was found nearly 30 miles inland, 10 weeks after the rescue, in one of the sluices along the Hundred Foot Drain.
A radio lost on a lifeboat rescue was found washed up in a tidal river nearly 30 miles inland weeks after the drama happened.
The walkie talkie went missing during a major operation on the River Ouse in King's Lynn in the early hours of 8 July, in which volunteers from Hunstanton RNLI rescued four people along with numerous dogs, cats and other animals from a sinking cabin cruiser.
The device was found 10 weeks after the memorable 'shout' in the Hundred Foot River by grazier David Tough at the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust (WWT)'s reserve at Welney, between Downham Market and Ely.
RNLI supporter David, who manages the 450-strong herd of cattle which graze the 1,000-acre reserve on the Norfolk - Cambridgeshire border, was clearing debris from a sluice when he spotted a familiar item floating at the edge of the tidal waterway.
While its orange float was faded, it still stood out from the usual debris that washes up in the river like pallets, driftwood, sleepers and cushions.
'I saw something in the water which had RNLI on it,' he said. 'I knew I'd seen something like it before, then I realised I'd seen them on Saving Lives at Sea, so I went and got a rake and fished it out.
'It was snagged to start with but I jiggled the rake a bit and after I freed it, I found it had a radio attached. When I switched it on, it lit up and still worked.'
David contacted the nearest lifeboat station to the Welney reserve at Hunstanton on the Norfolk coast, where lifeboat operations manager Mike Gould confirmed a radio had gone missing in action.
'When we found it had been lost we just assumed it had been washed away,' said Mike. 'There was so much going on that night.
'It was a massive surprise when David contacted the station, we couldn't believe it.'
On Sunday, 19 October, David travelled to Hunstanton RNLI with WWT colleague Emma Brand to return the lost kit to the crew.
He handed over the radio to Stuart Murray, who was one of the hovercraft crew which took part in the rescue, along with the station's fast inshore lifeboat.
'I thought you might like me to bring it back so you can start using it again,' he told volunteer crew members. 'It still works but it might just need a little bit of a clean.'
Launch authority Paul Stewart said: 'It was great to get the equipment back and we're thrilled it's still working. It just needs a clean-up, which we'll do.
'We're so grateful to David for finding it and bringing it back once he realised who it belonged to.'
The radio was made by Herne Bay-based Icom Ltd, who said it wasn't the first time one of its products had survived a lengthy soaking.
One device still worked after spending five years in the damp and mouldy bilges of a sailing yacht, while another still functioned after four months in a tidal river and yet another shrugged off four months at the bottom of a lake.
Icom sales and marketing assistant Nikki Sanderson said: 'We are extremely proud of the durability of our radios and glad to hear that the radio has been returned to the station.'
Story and pictures by RNLI/Chris Bishop
