Three female members of Fenit RNLI Lifeboat in Co Kerry rescued the crew of a fishing vessel five miles south-west of Fenit port.
Ms Mary Williams, Ms Daire Crowley and Ms Denise Lynch are believed to be one of the first all-women rescue teams to carry out such an operation.
Fenit RNLI Lifeboat has a crew panel of 36; five are women. The three were performing exercises in Tralee Bay recently when a call came that a fishing boat was overdue. The three women set out in the lifeboat, found the vessel in trouble and carried out the rescue.
"What was unusual was that it was only the female members who carried out the rescue," said Mr Ger O'Donnell, honorary secretary. He paid tribute to the entire crew panel. Fenit was now one of the busiest inshore stations, with rescue operations on a weekly basis, he said.