Poole Atlantic lifeboat was launched at 10.20pm on Tuesday (October 31st) after receiving a report of a possible person or persons in the water. The alert was raised after a 21ft yacht was found washed up on the shore at Southbourne.

The Atlantic was launched just before 11pm and, with the help of a Mudeford lifeboat, conducted a shoreline search, from the entrance of Poole harbour to Christchurch.

The search continued into the early hours of the morning, but nothing was found. Solent Coastguard stood the Poole lifeboat crew down at 03.30am,  after 5 hours at sea searching intensively in pitch black.

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The Poole lifeboat crew described the conditions out in the bay as ‘glassy calm’.

Volunteer helmsman Jonathan Clark said:

“The information that came through was that there may have been a person or people in the water due to how the vessel was found, along with Mudeford we thoroughly searched a large area and were at sea for a long time, working alongside the other agencies. It’s a mystery how the vessel came to be ashore and this will be further investigated by the coastguard”.

The Bournemouth Echo reports that the owner of the yacht, a 40 year old man from Bournemouth, was later found safe in the Christchurch area.