Royal Navy destroyer assists sailors on yacht in distress near Isle of Wight

The Royal Navy reports that one of its warships rescued four people from a yacht that was taking on water and at risk of sinking in the English Channel late last week.

The navy said the Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond answered a Mayday call in the Channel near the Isle of Wight on the evening (local time) of Thursday, November 10.

The civilian yacht, which was sailing from Beaulieu River in the New Forest towards Honfleur in France, sent out a distress call after it started taking on a significant amount of water.

Diamond was in the area after leaving her home port yesterday and coordinated and conducted the rescue operation, working alongside Newhaven and Bembridge Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crews and a French Coastguard helicopter.

The warship sent one of her tenders to the yacht and picked up four of the five personnel on board who were transferred back to Diamond to be examined by medical staff. Those rescued were then taken to hospital via the Newhaven RNLI lifeboat.

Three of Diamond's sailors then went back to the yacht and helped the boat's skipper to stabilise the vessel and sail it back to the UK.

The destroyer has since left Portsmouth to join up with the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth for operations in northern European waters.