Quick reactions kicked in on board Archer-class HMS Example when sailors and students went to the rescue of struggling swimmers in the Caledonia Canal.

LMEM Paul ‘Shady’ Lane heard the cries for help from the upper deck of the 50-ton patrol boat and saw some people struggling in the water.

The students, who were coming to the end of their summer deployment around the coast of Scotland, were below deck changing, ready for a night out in Inverness.

Shady said: “They were all in their smart clothes, but they didn’t think twice.

“ Once they realised this was not a drill but the real thing, their training kicked into action. They did everything they were told smartly, and some things that needed doing without any direction.

“They launched the boat in under 30 seconds,” he said with pride – adding that, by chance, the students had been practising launching the seaboat earlier that same day.

Shady and one of the students, Matt Gaskin, who studies at Newcastle University, took the boat to the scene.

One man was being supported by another, while a third was struggling to keep his head above water.

The two Naval men from the Northumbrian University Royal Naval Unit (URNU) grabbed hold of the man, who was naked and appeared to be inebriated, and pulled him into the safety of the seaboat.

Next they went to the rescue of the other two. Finally they picked up a fourth man, a passer-by who had seen the drama and dived in to the canal to help, towing a lifebelt.

“ By the time we got back to the ship the Coastguard, police and ambulance services were there as well,’ said Shady.

“ It was a team effort. The kids did incredibly well. It was slightly outside their training envelope with multiple casualties – we normally prepare them for a single man overboard.”

The commanding officer of HMS Example, Lt Chris Allan, was ashore at the time.

He said: “I was very pleased with the response of the students. Their training clicked into place and they used it well in a real-life situation.

“It doesn’t matter whether RN personnel or students, their professional training kicked in, and that’s what made me so proud.”