Lifeboat! by Margaret Dickinson Read Free Book Online

I’m on my way back to the station now. There’s nothing more I can do here. Out.’
    Without Jack Hansard needing to go into detail over the radio, Macready knew the coastguard’s landrover would be heading back either for the coastguard’s station on the seafront or possibly to the lifeboat station. There he would obtain further information from the police, or the boys’ father, and then he would consult the lifeboat secretary and call up Macready again.
    â€˜Well, while we’re waiting,’ the coxswain said, ‘we might as well carry on a while here.’
    Once more the crew returned to their posts and the Mary Martha Clamp headed towards the Outer Dog’s Head sandbank, Macready keeping to a northerly course just in case they were needed to search for the boys.
    Half an hour later, Bill Luthwaite’s voice came over the radio link from the coastguard’s vehicle. ‘… The Inshore Lifeboat has launched to search for these boys. We think you should stay where you are at present and let the ILB do a search first. Over.’
    Macready agreed and then asked, ‘Is the helicopter on stand-by?’
    An air/ sea rescue helicopter operated from an R.A.F base in Norfolk and often assisted in a search and rescue operation in Macready’s area. Bill Luthwaite replied that it was but that they would only request assistance if the inshore boat failed to find the boys fairly quickly.
    Macready gave a grunt of satisfaction and was about to hand over the telephone to Pete Donaldson once more when another thought struck him. ‘… Jack, get on to the boathouse and see if any of our lads noticed any boys watching our launch this morning.’
    The coastguard’s voice now came noisily into the cockpit of the lifeboat. ‘… Right, it’s a possibility. Out.’
    Macready now handed the phone back to Pete, who, ten minutes later was relaying another message from the coastguard to his coxswain. ‘Jack says Tim Matthews saw two lads amongst the watchers at the launch. Tim reckons they didn’t seem that interested though. They scampered off before the lifeboat was out of sight.’
    Macready smiled at the thought of Tim’s indignation at such an action. But Jack’s next words, relayed by Pete, replaced Macready’s amusement with intuitive foreboding. ‘ Tim’s rough description of those lads fits the missing boys though.’
    â€˜Mmm, well, if it was them, that helps a bit as regards time.’ Once more Macready reached out to take the radio/telephone to speak directly to the coastguard and the lifeboat secretary.
    â€˜Saltershaven coastguard, this is Saltershaven lifeboat. Coxswain speaking. I suppose we could make a pretty fair guess at the time they could have entered the water—say half an hour after our launch?’
    Jack Hansard agreed and added, ‘ The holiday flats they’re staying in are pretty near the lifeboat station, so I’d say they’d go in off-central beach. If it was them watching your launch, it could even be the same place the lifeboat entered the water.’
    Macready made swift calculations in his head. He had no need to look at his charts, not just to make a rough estimate as to where the boys’ dinghy might be, he knew the area so well.
    â€˜â€¦ That could put the dinghy out of the inshore boat’s range by now. Over.’
    â€˜Affirmative. Suggest you make for the area right away, but we’ll let the inshore boat carry on the search until you get up here again. Over.’
    â€˜And the helicopter?’ Macready wanted to know.
    â€˜We’ll ask Breymouth to request assistance.’
    â€˜Right,’ Macready said decisively. ‘We’re on our way. Roger and out.’
    Now the boys could not even see the beach for they were huddled in the bottom of the dinghy cold, wet and very frightened. Martin’s tears had subsided to the occasional sniffle