HELENSBURGH'S volunteer lifeboat crew rescued a man from the water off Greenock in the early hours of Sunday.

The RNLI crew was asked to launch by HM Coastguard just after 2am on September 1 to help a man in the water off the town's Esplanade.

On arrival less than 20 minutes later they found a man in the water being supported by a coastguard rescue swimmer, who was unable to get the man to the shore.

Both were recovered and taken ashore at the nearby East India Dock, where the man was handed over to a waiting ambulance crew.

READ MORE: Helensburgh lifeboat to the rescue after yacht loses power in the Clyde

The incident was also attended by police, land-based coastguard officials and the coastguard's search and rescue helicopter; the lifeboat returned to its station at Rhu Marina at 3.24am.

The call-out was the second of three in the space of four days for the Helensburgh lifeboat; it followed an alert at 2.15pm on Friday afternoon when the crew was asked to help an MoD Police boat which was experiencing difficulty with a 27-foot yacht it was towing after the craft broke loose from its mooring in Loch Long.

The yacht was towed to the Holy Loch Marina by the lifeboat crew, who returned to station at 4pm.

READ MORE: Helensburgh's RNLI crew in double rescue drama

Then, just after 4.04pm on Monday, the lifeboat was asked to investigate a report of a small motor vessel continuously circling off Newark Castle in Port Glasgow; on arrival at 4.20pm, the crew found that the vessel was conducting survey operations in the area.

The lifeboat was stood down and arrived back on station at 4.40pm.