Father and son, Dan and Mark Scullin, were fishing from their dinghy when they were struck by a freak wave at about 1.50pm on Wednesday, August 26, and knocked overboard.

Fortunately, the men were able to swim back to their boat and access their life jackets and EPIRB distress beacon before the boat sank.

Esperance Police were notified when the EPIRB was activated, and police and members of the Esperance Volunteer Marine Rescue were deployed to the area, while a helicopter owned by Esperance Heli-tours was utilised in the search.

EVMR member, David Dodge, sighted the men from the helicopter at around 4pm.

“When we first found them, they were 250-300 metres from shore, but the shoreline was all rock, so they still had another 500 metres to go to get to the beach,” Mr Dodge said.

“They did the right thing. They had life jackets and used EPIRBS and they stuck together.”

Mr Dodge helped to encourage the men, deploying ‘rescue grenades’ containing flotation devices to help keep the men buoyant, together with bottled water.

Upon reaching shore, both men were very cold and suffering from mild hypothermia. They were treated by the Condingup St John’s Ambulance, before being taken to the Esperance hospital where they were assessed and released.

Esperance police Senior Sergeant Paul Humphries said the men were “extremely lucky to be alive”.

“Had they not had the new 406 MHz EPIRB distress beacon it is likely they would have perished at sea,” he said.

“This was a good example of people having the right safety gear, and it saved their lives.”

Dan Scullin said remaining calm and encouraging each other helped to get them through.

“Mark didn’t panic one bit, and neither did I. That’s part of the reason we survived.

“We kept talking to each other, and kept thinking positive.

“We are very thankful to the emergency services and the people who helped us out,” Mr Scullin said.

“The rescue gear was very effective and it proves the point about EPIRBS.”