call 1,000 miles off Bermuda.

The crew are understood to have abandoned ship and taken to a life raft.

The vessel was believed to be the 62-foot sloop, Zuno , which left Bermuda last Wednesday.

On board were two Englishmen, an Irishman, and a Canadian.

A US Coast Guard plane was scouring the seas north east of Bermuda yesterday, and a British motor vessel also joined in the search.

The vessel, British Renown , later recovered an unmanned life raft in the rough area of the distress call.

A Harbour Radio spokesman said yesterday: "The distress call was very weak, and we don't even know the name of the vessel. "We believe it could be the Zuno, because it was on roughly the right track.'' The distress call went out at about 11.30 p.m. on Monday in heavy seas.

An alert was also sounded at the same time after the vessel, Wailua , capsized 600 miles east of Bermuda.

A US Coast Guard aircraft went out to the scene as the crew said it was abandoning ship. A spokesman said the crew were later picked up by a passing motor vessel, Justin .