Taken from “The Story of the Dover Lifeboats” by Jeff Morris available from the Fundraising Branch's shop.

In the early hours of October 16th 1987, southern and eastern England was struck by one of the most violent storms on record, with hurricane-force winds of over 110mph. A very considerable amount of damage was done, with millions of trees being ripped up. At sea, conditions were absolutely appalling, later being described as “of unparalleled severity”.

Shortly after 5 o'clock that morning, Dover Coastguard received a ‘MAYDAY' call from the crew of the 1,600 ton Bahamanian registered bulk-carrier “Sumnia”, which was drifting, although she had both anchors down. The lifeboat-men were summoned at 0511hrs, the men having to make their way down to the lifeboat in total darkness, as the storm had cut all power in the area. But by 0530hrs, they had all assembled. Conditions were truly dreadful. Inside Dover Harbour itself, waves up to 20 feet high were smashing against the inner face of the Eastern Arm. But outside the harbour, waves up to 60 feet high were sweeping clean over the Admiralty Pier and some stone blocks, each weighing 50 tons were dislodged by the force of the waves. In heavy, driving spray, visibility was nil. The Dover Harbour tug "Deft", approached the casualty, as the vessel was driven steadily towards the Admiralty Pier, approached the casualty, but in the enormous seas, the crew of the tug radioed that they were unable to put anyone on deck, to man a tow-line and so, at 0600hrs, Second Coxswain/Mechanic Roy Couzens, who was in command of the lifeboat on this occasion, as Coxswain Anthony Hawkins was away on leave, decided to take the lifeboat nearer the Western Entrance of the Harbour and wait there for further instructions. The Lifeboat-men cast-off and the “Rotary Service” moved away from her berth, but, as she did so, the wind blew the forward mooring rope into the water and this then fouled the lifeboat's starboard propeller. Acting Coxswain Couzens took the lifeboat back to her berth and two divers were summoned. The men, Mr Cook and Mr Gill, arrived at 0620hrs and, at considerable personal risk, they entered the water and succeeded in clearing the rope from the propeller-shaft, but they were unable to clear it from the propeller itself.

In the meantime, then “Sumnia” had been driven against the Admiralty Pier and was pitching and rolling very violently. Acting Coxswain Couzens decided to take the Lifeboat out, in spite of the rope around the propeller and at 0657hrs, the “Rotary Service” headed down the Inner Harbour, Acting Second Coxswain Michael Abbot assisting Roy Couzens on the lifeboat's upper steering position. With the exception of the lifeboat's radio operator, who was strapped into his seat in the wheelhouse, all the other members of the crew were out on deck. As the lifeboat rounded the end of the Prince of Wales Pier, she ran into violent, confused seas, the lifeboat rolling alarmingly, as huge waves repeatedly swept clean over her, soaking the men on deck, who, with the life-lines attached, were often standing up to their waists in water. Visibility at the time was no more than 500 yards. When they sighted the “Sumnia”, she was hard up against the breakwater, rising and falling some 30 feet in the huge seas and rolling up to 80º.

By 0700hrs, Acting Coxswain Couzens had, with superb seamanship and great courage, manoeuvred the lifeboat to within 20 feet of the casualty's port bow and the lifeboat-men could see two men, each wearing a lifejacket, on the vessel's deck. Fearing that the lifeboat would be crushed between the casualty and the breakwater, the Acting Coxswain skilfully brought the lifeboat out stern-first and took her round towards the “Sumnia's” starboard bow. As he worked to bring the lifeboat round into position, the driving spray reduced visibility to almost nil and at times, although they were only about 20 feet from the vessel, the lifeboat-men were unable to see her. At that moment, a tremendous wave roared over the casualty and swept the two men off the deck and into the churning, foaming sea. One of the men was spotted about 15 feet from the “Sumnia” and, despite a mass of debris floating all around ship, Acting Coxswain Couzens skilfully took the lifeboat up to the man. As the lifeboat rolled and pitched most violently, lifeboat-men Eric Tanner and Dominic McHugh, with the assistance of two of their colleagues, pulled the man aboard the lifeboat. The second man was then spotted in the water, about 20 feet away and the lifeboat was manoeuvred alongside him and he too was pulled to safety.

By that time, the bow section of the “Sumnia” had been broken off by the force of the huge waves and this section had sunk. The remainder of the vessel was lying on its' side, to seaward of the breakwater. Four men were still unaccounted for and Acting Coxswain Couzens realised that he would have to make a search for them outside the harbour. With superb seamanship and perfect timing, he turned the lifeboat to starboard and lined her up for the harbour entrance. As the lifeboat headed out she was hit by enormous waves and the full force of the hurricane and was repeatedly swung off her heading. Suddenly, the lifeboat dropped some 60 feet from the crest of a wave and crashed down into the trough, the lifeboat being completely engulfed by the following wave and knocked right over onto her port side. Some of the crew at that moment were convinced that the lifeboat was about to capsize. Roy Couzens was thrown violently across the flying bridge, landing heavily between the throttles and the wheel. But, the lifeboat came upright again and he quickly brought her back under control and they cleared the harbour entrance and began the search for the 4 missing men. Two Harbour Launches, the “George Hammond II” and the “Verity” meanwhile, searched the Outer Harbour, in extremely severe conditions.

The crew of the tug "Deft" then radioed that they had seen a man in the water, just inside the Eastern Entrance to the Harbour and they asked for urgent lifeboat assistance. As Acting Coxswain Couzens turned the lifeboat towards the Harbour Entrance, the "Rotary Service" was struck again by enormous waves and this time, she was knocked right over to starboard. She quickly came upright again and entered the harbour safely.

In the meantime, the crew of the "Deft" had, somehow, succeeded in hauling the man up out of the water and onto the deck, despite the tug having a freeboard of 4 feet. The lifeboat-men, then spotted a life-jacket floating in the water, amongst a mass of debris. With waves still estimated at up to 20 feet high, the lifeboat was manoeuvred up to the floating life-jacket and the lifeboat-men reached down to pull it aboard - and found a man beneath it. He was quickly pulled aboard the lifeboat and, although his pulse had stopped and he appeared to be dead, they began resuscitation and, the man started to breath again. As the lifeboat headed back to her berth to land the man, Acting Coxswain Couzens began to feel pains in his chest, but he brought the lifeboat alongside and the 3 men were landed.

At 0727hrs, the lifeboat set out again, to resume the search of the Outer Harbour for the two men still missing. Just as the first sweep was completed, Roy Couzens began to feel unwell and he asked Acting Second Coxswain Michael Abbot to take the helm, which he did, Roy Couzens being determined that the search for the men should continue. But he got steadily worse and then felt his legs giving way beneath him. His breathing became difficult and so Michael Abbot decided to decided to rush him ashore as quickly as possible and a radio message to this effect was sent, just as Roy Couzens became unconscious. Because of the damage caused by the storm, most of the roads were blocked and no ambulance could get through to the Docks and so, one of the Lifeboat Station's Deputy Launching Authorities took Roy Couzens to hospital in his car, where it was diagnosed that he had suffered a heart attack.

By that time, the weather had begun to moderate, but the lifeboat-men continued to stand-by until 1215hrs, in case they were needed again.

For his truly outstanding seamanship, great skill and tremendous courage, Acting Coxswain Roy Couzens was awarded a Silver Medal by the RNLI. Each of the other members of that very gallant crew, Acting Second Coxswain Michael Abbot and lifeboat-men Geoffrey Buckland, Dominic McHugh, Christopher Ryan, Robert Bruce and Eric Tanner, were each awarded a Bronze Medal. Shore-helper David Moore received a Letter of Thanks, signed by the Chairman of the RNLI, His Grace The Duke of Atholl, for his help during this service. For their part in the search and rescue operation, the Master and crew of the Dover Harbour Board Tug "Deft", also received a Letter of Thanks, signed by the Duke of Atholl. The crews of the Harbour Launches "George Hammond II" and "Verity" received letters signed by the Director of the RNLI, Lt Commdr. Brian Miles. Letters of Thanks were also sent to the two divers, who cleared the rope from the lifeboat's propeller-shaft, Mr Cook and Mr Gill.

Happily, Roy Couzens recovered from the heart-attack he suffered during this dramatic service. As Motor Mechanic of the Dover Lifeboat, he was a full-time employee of the RNLI, but as he was not able to go to sea again as a member of the lifeboat's crew, he was granted a pension by the institution.