Two men had to be rescued by the RNLI after aiming to climb Redsand Towers.

The 20-year-olds had set off from Warden Bay, Sheppey, in an “overloaded” inflatable craft with fishing equipment and a ladder.

The forts, built during the Second World War to defend Britain from German air attacks, are 60 feet above the water at their tallest.

Sheerness RNLI was called out by the coastguard when it received reports that the men were overboard.

The lifeboat Judith Copping Joyce with its crew of six launched at 7.20pm on Saturday.

But when they arrived at the towers at 8pm they found no sign of the rubber dinghy.

However, an update from the coastguard reported that the men were drifting towards the Kentish Flats wind farm complex and that they were in contact via a poor mobile phone connection. A further update reported the vessel was inside the wind farm area and drifting.

The crew finally spotted a tiny speck in the distance and they were able to pull alongside the craft. They took both men and the inflatable onboard at 8.22pm. They were then passed into the care of the Sheppey Coastguard Rescue Team at 9.05pm, who were waiting at the lifeboat station in Sheerness Docks.

Sheerness RNLI Lifeboat Coxswain Paul Jarvis said that his crew “could not believe what they were seeing” when they located the men.

He added: “Their craft was totally not suitable for the open sea and they were extremely lucky that their ‘adventure’ had not ended in tragedy before we found them.

“They were both wearing buoyancy aids and had mobile phones and did not seem aware of the danger they had put themselves in.

“Mobile phone signals are notoriously bad at sea and buoyancy aids should only be used in close to shore or harbour situations. If we had not found them when we did the whole situation would have escalated with the onset of darkness and changing sea conditions and the outcome would most likely have not been good.”

The lifeboat was called out again the next day at 3.20pm to assist a small sailing craft, with one man on board, that was taking on water and at anchor off Grain Edge on the River Medway.

The crew of six located the casualty within minutes and towed the boat to safety arriving at Queenborough Harbour at 3.45pm.