Three kayakers had to be rescued after getting into difficulty off the County Durham coast.
The alarm was raised after three people out in the North Sea off Blackhall appeared to be struggling in the water on Saturday afternoon.
Hartlepool RNLI volunteers were paged at 12.58pm by the Humber Coastguard to assist the three kayakers who also had a rubber dinghy with them.
The all weather lifeboat and inshore lifeboat launched at 1.10pm with the inshore lifeboat first to arrive at the scene.
Some passers-by gathered to watch the rescue effort from the cliffs at Crimdon.
The crews retrieved the kayakers and their boats and returned them to the beach at Crimdon where they had originally launched from, and were met there by the local Coastguard team. The kayakers were reported to be safe and well.
Both lifeboats returned to the Ferry Road lifeboat station in Hartlepool at 2.40pm and were made ready for service again.
