Over the last few days, a number of small vessels have been given assistance by coastguards and lifeboats after they were taken to sea without having even the basic safety equipment for communicating a problem on board.

Fortunately, all aboard were rescued without harm to themselves or their boats.

However, the incidents have led to HM Coastguard issuing the following safety warning.

Said a spokeswoman: "It is vital, even when taking a small boat a short distance off shore, that some means of communication is carried.

"The best means is a VHF radio with channels specifically selected for maritime use. Flares are also desirable and when these are fired can be seen for quite a distance.

"Even a mobile telephone is better than nothing, but beware, once a mobile 'phone gets wet, it is useless and communications can be very erratic at sea with cliffs, headlands etc., interrupting the signal strength, and remember your 'phone is only good to use, even in an emergency call '999', if you are in the footprint of an aerial of your network provider."