Douglas Lifeboat was called to assist after a fishing vessel taking on water issued a mayday call on Sunday evening.

The fishing vessel Lady Helen who was taking on water about 22 miles south east of Douglas.

The RNLB Ruby Clery was launched, under the command of Edd Christian at about 10pm, joining Barrow’s crew in the going to the aid of the vessel, ‘Lady Helen’, which had issued a Mayday alert.

Barrow Lifeboat said: ‘The casualty vessel, Lady Helen, was located at a position 30 miles west of Barrow and the Grace Dixon arrived on scene at 11-15pm. In the meantime, the lifeboat from Douglas, Isle of Man, had also been requested to attend along with the Coastguard helicopter, Rescue 936 from Caernarfon.

‘Another vessel nearby, Fairline Surveyor, managed to take the five crew members off the casualty vessel to ensure they were safe. A sister vessel to the Lady Helen, the Anne Mary B, had also sailed from Fleetwood to go and assist.

The Barrow and Douglas lifeboats assessed the condition of the casualty, and it was agreed that the Anne Mary B could take the Lady Helen under tow back to Fleetwood.

The Barrow lifeboat then transferred the rescued crew members from the Fairline Surveyor and at 1.57am they were in turn transferred to the Anne Mary B.’

Steam Packet vessel Ben-my-Chree leaves Douglas in heavy weather - (Isle of Man Newspapers)

As we reported yesterday, the Ben-my-Chree was also diverted to the location of the Lady Helen to assist with the rescue, before continuing on its journey to Heysham.

The Douglas based volunteer crew returned to the island and made the boat ready again for 3am on Monday.