Wirral's lifeboats were in action in the early hours of Saturday when a large commercial fishing vessel ran aground seven miles off-shore near Formby Point.
Hoylake’s sea-going lifeboat Lady of Hilbre was called out at around 4am and an hour later the New Brighton inshore boat Charles Dibdin was also called to assist the stranded vessel as it was better able to operate in shallow water due to low tide.
Mike Jones, RNLI volunteer helmsman in charge of New Brighton lifeboat, said: "When we got to the trawler it was listing 40 degrees to starboard.
"Their crew had put one of the large dredging beams out to the port side as a counterbalance to reduce the risk of capsize.
"We put our senior crewman Mark Harding on board the trawler to manage all round communications and the set up of the tow with Lady of Hilbre.
Mr Harding said: "Although diminutive in size, it was well within the capability of Hoylake’s Lady of Hilbre’lifeboat to tow this vessel.
"With New Brighton’s Charles Dibdin as escort and ultimately acting as a brake when entering Langton Dock we tied up.
"The trawler was subsequently towed by its sister trawler to ship repairers.
"Had weather conditions been less favourable the outcome may have been radically different."
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