A 40ft yacht had to be rescued from sinking off the Purbeck coast.

Swanage Lifeboat Station’s all weather lifeboat was called to the incident on Sunday night by UK Coastguard.

The yacht, which was a couple of miles south of Dancing Ledge, was reporting a water leak which the boat’s pumps were unable to cope with.

The lifeboat met up with the yacht near Anvil Point, and a crewmember was sent aboard to assess the yacht’s condition.

A spokesperson for Swanage Lifeboat Station said a split in the yacht’s wooden hull had caused the leak.

“It was initially thought that the water ingress was coming from the yacht’s engine so this was stopped and the yacht taken in tow.

“Unfortunately, once the yacht was secured to the RNLI mooring in Swanage, it became apparent that the water was actually coming from a split in the yacht’s wooden hull.

“This meant that the yacht could not be left in Swanage Bay as it would need to be lifted out of the water as soon as possible.”

They added the yacht was towed into Poole Harbour and secured to a berth so arrangements could be made to lift the boat Monday morning.

The lifeboat crew returned to the station just after 2.30am.