An Angus fisherman was rescued seconds before icy seawater threatened to sink his boat.
Derek Cunningham (48) told how he was moments away from going down with his trawler the Kalisto when an RNLI lifeboat crew came to his aid.
The Arbroath skipper had been bringing in night creels around seven miles north of the town on Saturday, when water began cascading into the vessel.
He paid tribute to the lifeboat volunteers who used a portable pump to bail out the stricken craft before towing it to safety.
Mr Cunningham said: ”If the lifeboat hadn’t been there with the pump then it would have been touch and go. It was about 11pm and I had been out to get the creels in when water started coming in.”
A problem with the boat’s stern gland caused a leak and before long water began flooding into the nine-metre hull. The water level rose above the engine as the skipper set off flares and called for help, which arrived just minutes later.
After steadying the trawler, the lifeboat was able to tow the Kalisto safely back to Arbroath harbour, with the two crew members unharmed.
An RNLI spokesman said: ”The all-weather lifeboat RNLB Inchcape was launched at 11.50pm on Saturday night after a small fishing boat got into difficulty seven and a half nautical miles north-east of Arbroath.
”The lone crewman had issued a mayday call and fired off two red flares after his boat began taking on water.
”Several other vessels were in the area at the time and the vessel Energy Lord assisted until the lifeboat arrived.
”Upon arrival at the scene, two volunteer crew members from the lifeboat boarded the boat with a salvage pump and began pumping water from the vessel.”
It took around four hours for the Kalisto to be towed back to Arbroath, arriving at around 3.45am on Sunday morning.
A crew from Tayside Fire and Rescue were waiting at the harbour to offer further help, but the pumping equipment held on-site was able to carry out the task.
Once on shore a lifeboat crew member carried out medical checks on Mr Cunningham before he was checked over and released by paramedics.
The St Andrews Crescent resident said his boat had been at Pittenweem harbour for the last three weeks due to poor weather and the period out of action may not have helped.
He added: ”There has been a few little problems since I bought it but it has not broken down this year. It has just passed an MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) safety check and that is not due again until 2015.”
Also on Saturday, Arbroath’s inshore lifeboat was diverted from an exercise after a man was cut off by the tide at an area of cliffs known as Steeple Rock.
The crew quickly arrived and were able to transfer the man to safety on shore.