Cleat failure leads to RNLI rescue, covid-fines and donations as adventure goes awry

Three men have been issued ‘covid fines’ after being rescued from an abandoned Thames Estuary fort.

Calling themselves ‘experienced boaties’, their boats went missing overnight after a cleat failed. And, being stuck about seven miles out, they had to call the coastguard, who scrambled the RNLI, and the police.

The trio visited the WWII Red Sands Forts near Whitstable for the night.

After failing to flag down passing boats the men eventually called the coastguard and were rescued by the RNLI on Sunday morning.

They were greeted onshore by a landing party of officers from Kent Police who fined them £200 each.

The group decided to visit the Second World War structures – also known as the Maunsell Forts – after seeing them on a TV programme.

“I’m one of the idiots that was involved in all of this at the weekend,” says Ben Marklew on the RNLI facebook page. He offered his ‘sincerest apologies’ and said he and his two friends had made large donations to the RNLI and the Redsands Seafort Trust.

Marklew was keen “to apologise and express our gratitude to all the people and organisations involved. Namely the RNLI, HM Coastguard, Port of London Authority and Kent marine police.

“Also to the Redsand Project who work to preserve the forts and don’t need kn**heads like us interfering.

“We have made a £1,000 donation to the RNLI. We have also made a £2,000 donation to the Redsands Seafort Trust.

“We received a covid-fine each. Hindsight, a wonderful thing. If we could turn back time we wouldn’t attempt this selfish mission.”

Marklew says he and his friends are “experienced boaties”.

“We waited till the morning to alert the coastguard as that’s when we realised our vessels were adrift.

“The idea was to spend the night on the forts and return the next day without ever a soul knowing.

“We didn’t break in, but used drones and rope access as method of entry. We had GPS radios and SAT phones.

“We realised the boats were missing Sunday morning after the cleat had failed on the bow line, and the aft line had chafed on the Fort when the direction of pull had changed.

“We spent a while trying to hail and call local vessels as to not impact on the RNLI. We were also aware of our duty to report the adrift vessels and as such the coastguard scrambled the RNLI.”

Marklew was responding to online criticism on the RNLI’s facebook page and also attempting to set the record straight after some media outlets claimed the men had all travelled great distances to join the expedition (one, it appears, came from Manchester). He has received some kudos for explaining his actions, apologising and making the donations.

The RNLI team from Sheerness in Kent rescued the trio at 9am on last Sunday.

The trio’s boats were found drifting by a Kent Police boat (with a set of car keys onboard).

Red Sands Forts formed part of Britain’s line of defence against Nazi attack from sea and air and were built in the Thames Estuary in 1943.

The towers are large installations with seven steel platforms, five of which carried guns arranged in a semi-circle around a control centre and accommodation.

These bastions were assembled after the main London Blitz and they jointly shot down 22 enemy aircraft, 30 V1 flying bombs, and also accounted for a U-boat – undoubtedly saving hundreds of lives.

They have since been home to pirate radio stations and have also been used for filming, including Dr Who.

Images courtesy of Vic Booth, RNLI and Kent Police.