A senior US military officer has thanked the RNLI for saving one of their sailors and his wife who got into difficulty off the East Yorkshire coast.
The couple, both US nationals, found themselves cut off after going ashore in a cove while paddleboarding near Flamborough Head on 3 July.
Col John Sullivan, commander at a military intelligence center at RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire, wrote a letter to the crew commending the RNLI for its “rapid response”.
David Freeman, Flamborough lifeboat operations manager, said he was “amazed” when he received the letter, adding: “It was totally out of the blue, but very nice and very welcome.”
Describing the rescue, Freeman said: “On arrival, we tried to get in with a lifeboat but unfortunately there was too much swell and the sea was too rough to safely get ashore.
“We tried coaxing the two persons to swim to the lifeboat but I think they frightened themselves.”
Coastguard crews called in the rescue helicopter while the lifeboat waited a short distance away. The sailor and his wife were safely rescued.