A lifeboatman helped co-ordinate a Caribbean sea ................. while out shopping in Britain after a friend called to say he was on sinking ship called Titanic.

Alex Evans, 27, was in a DIY store in Aberystwyth, West Wales, when .............colleague Mark Corbett rang his mobile phone from 4,000 miles away pleading for help.

Mr Evans scribbled down the stricken vessel’s coordinates on the back of a till .................. and relayed the distress message to British coastguards.

They then alerted international colleagues, who located the 1,700-ton ship – called Motor Yacht Titanic – near Grenada, and saved Mr Corbett, 25, and his two ................ mates.

Mr Evans, a ................. on the RNLI lifeboat in Aberystwyth, said he initially thought his friend was joking because of the ship’s name.

Mr Corbett was crewing the 258ft vessel on a trip from Saint Vincent to Puerto Rico for a refit when it ran ..............trouble.

He called Mr Evans saying: "I'm on a ship in the Caribbean, we're taking on water and we're sinking. "We've lost all power so can't use the long range radio.

“We're too far from shore to use the VHF radio so I'm using the satellite phone – and yours is the only number I could remember ...............the top of my head.

.............. two hours of the call on Wednesday, French and US rescue aircraft had spotted the ship, which was barely above water.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said: “It’s .............. remarkable that this all started with a phone call to a friend in Britain.”