“Please wear your lifejacket on board the boat, and log on with us,” Mr Hall said.

“The boater logged on, we realised he was overdue, so we started searching before the alarm was raised. Even then, he had been swimming for hours after his boat capsized. It’s really important to log on with us.”

The boater washed up on the beach, and was treated for hypothermia and cuts.

The rescue vessels used new technology to locate the sunken ship, which had capsized due to a freak wave.

“This was the first chance we had to use our 3D high definition underwater imaging technology,” Mr Hall said.

“Given an approximate location, we found it within five minutes.”