A DANISH trawler, which sprang a leak in the southern North Sea, had to be rescued by the Royal Navy fishery protection vessel HMS Mersey.The fishing vessel Inger Lis sent out a distress signal on Thursday night after getting into difficulties 40 miles off the Dutch coast.

A DANISH trawler, which sprang a leak in the southern North Sea, had to be rescued by the Royal Navy fishery protection vessel HMS Mersey.

The fishing vessel Inger Lis sent out a distress signal after getting into difficulties 40 miles off the Dutch coast.

HMS Mersey, involved in a fishery protection deployment with other EU navies, went to their aid as the stricken vessel was some 12 miles to the north.

On arrival at the scene, the water level in the trawler's engine room was approximately five feet deep and up to the cylinder head of the engine.

Engineers clear the engine room of water in about 15 minutes, and worked out that the water was coming in near the rudder, but were unable to get to the location to stop the leak. However, by this time a Dutch lifeboat had arrived with a smaller pump which was capable of dealing with the few gallons per minute that was still coming in. When a second Dutch lifeboat arrived to take the Danish vessel under tow to safety, HMS Mersey's team returned to their ship and the Royal Navy ship was able to continue her fishery patrol.