AN unusual group of onlookers watched as a North-East lifeboat came to the aid a broken down fishing boat.

A pod of dolphins arrived to watch the proceedings, and their visit on Friday was caught on camera.

The Redcar lifeboat Leicester Challenge III was called at 11.45am after the two-man crew of a 26ft fishing boat contacted UK Coastguard to inform them that their craft had suffered mechanical failure.

The lifeboat from Redcar arrived at the scene within ten minutes by using its radio direction finding equipment to pinpoint the location of the disabled craft.

As the lifeboat began towing the fishing boat toward the River Tees, the rescue scene was visited by a small pod of dolphins. And their appearance was captured by the helmet-mounted video camera worn by one of the lifeboat volunteers.

RNLI helmsman Dave Scott said: ‘It was an absolute privilege to see such a wonderful natural phenomenon.

"There have been a lot of reports of dolphins being seen off the North-East coast this summer, but that was the first time I’ve actually seen them for myself. It’s certainly the first time for many years they’ve been spotted in this area during a rescue.

"They were obviously curious to see what we were up to."

The fishing boat, which had suffered gearbox problems, was taken back to its moorings at Paddy’s Hole in the mouth of the River Tees.