A deaf yachtsman was on passage from Wivehoe, on the River Colne to Greenwich on the River Thames, with his two sons when he ran aground on an estuary sandbank in the dark.

One of the skipper’s sons raised the alarm on VHF Channel 16 and the Walton Lifeboat recovered the boat and towed her to Brightlingsea.

Mick Carpenter of Thames Coastguard said:’ I would like to praise the young lad who raised the alarm on behalf of his father and brother who are profoundly deaf.’