An Moray fisherman was forced to make a mayday call when his creel boat lost power for the second time in less than six months.
The propeller of Lee Brown’s vessel became fouled with ropes which were floating loose seven miles west of Buckie.
The 33-year-old’s boat the Lily then suffered power failure.
Mr Brown fashioned a makeshift spear by taping a sharp knife to the end of a broomstick, before painstakingly cutting the bulk of the ropes away from the propeller.
But he was wary that some of the blockage was still stuck in the blades, and feared restarting the engine could cause a seal to burst and sink his craft.
Around 2pm yesterday he sent out a radio message appealing for assistance, and the Buckie lifeboat went to his aid.
Mr Brown said: “I was hauling up creels when it happened, by the time I noticed the ropes among the propeller it was too late.
“The conditions were getting choppier as the afternoon went on, and if I put the boat in gear it could have caused more damage.
“It could have wrapped the ropes tighter around the propeller and burst a seal, which would have sunk the boat.
“I managed to cut the rope free, to release some of the weight, then called the lifeboat.”
Mr Brown said he would now don his wetsuit to assess whether the Lily had suffered any significant damage.
He added: “I’ll have to go for a dook to check that, which I wasn’t prepared to do until at least July.”
A spokesman for the coastguard said: “We received a call over the radio at about 2pm, a boat’s propeller had snagged in ropes and that caused it to lose power.
“The Buckie lifeboat was the closest one to the scene, and it went out to recover the man and his vessel.”
Mr Brown, who is chairman of the Portgordon Community Harbour group, was ultimately taken back to Buckie harbour by RNLI crews for the second time in recent months.
He had to call the lifeboat in November when he was aboard a friend’s creel boat and a mechanical fault left the vessel drifting.
