What started out as a routine training exercise for the Buckie Lifeboat on Sunday turned into a very real – but equally routine – life saving mission.
A call for assistance went out to the RNLI crew as they were completing their training session, assistance being requested by a trawler that had developed steering problems just a mile north of Buckie harbour.
The 82-foot Artemis Avoch issued an alert just after midday when the boat was thought to be in danger of drifting out of control.
After locating the troubled Inverness-registered boat the Buckie crew attached a line and towed the Artemis Avoch into harbour.
An RNLI spokesman said: “A shout such as this to help a fishing boat in distress by towing it back to shore is fairly routine for our volunteers.”