A group of marine researchers had to be rescued at the weekend after their boat set alight off the North Shore.

The Government fisheries research vessel Calamus reported a fire on board in the engine room just before 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The Dom Perignon pleasure boat helped to evacuate the 15 divers on board and take them ashore, while the three crew of the Calamus stayed on board to assist while the Sea Palace towed it back to its mooring at Coney Island. The fire was extinguished soon after it began by the vessel's own automatic extinguisher, and no one was injured.

Soon after, the Dom Perignon found a 13ft whaler boat disabled near to Coney Island, due to engine failure. The pleasure boat towed the boat and the two people on board to Bailey's Bay.

And just after midnight yesterday, Harbour Radio received a call from two people who had beached their 25ft pleasure craft during low tide near to Clearwater Beach. They stayed with the boat until the tide rose again at 4 a.m., when they were able to float it back out to sea.