The pair were stranded, with waves lashing beneath them after being cut off by the tide between Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay.

Gazette reporter Caroline Gough and photographer Ceri Oakes were at the scene watching the drama unfold from the clifftop path behind Highgate Howe at Saltwick Bay.

Coastguards and Whitby's inshore lifeboat rushed to the scene after the pair, believed to be 15 and 16, called 999 from a mobile phone.

The frightened boys, who were out searching for pieces of jet, had scrambled to safety on a cliff ledge but were stuck there for more than an hour before they called for help.

Whitby inshore lifeboat was paged by Humber Coastguard to search for them at 2.40pm.

It launched at just before 3pm and soon spotted them on a ledge four metres up the cliff at Saltwick Bay.

Coastguard Steven Bunt bravely went down the cliff on a rope to secure the two and put lifejackets on them before they were winched into an RAF Sea King helicopter.

As they were surrounded by water on an outcrop, one option would have been to keep them talking for around 20 minutes by which time the water would have become deep enough for the inshore lifeboat to get in and anchor but there was a worry they would become too cold.

The inshore lifeboat struggled to get in. A two-metre ground swell from the north to north west was breaking at the base of the cliff, so the crew was asked to remain on scene but it was not safe to evacuate the two boys.

Whitby coxswain and mechanic, Mike Russell and Glen Goodberry, said it was too shallow to put the anchor down and too risky to leave the stricken boys to become even colder, possibly suffering from hypothermia so a cliff rescue team and the RAF were sent.

The boys remained on the cliff ledge while the helicopter from RAF Boulmer had to re-fuel as the helicopter from RAF Leconfield was unserviceable and on the ground.

The two were rescued by the helicopter shortly after 4pm and taken to Scarborough District Hospital for check-up.

Colin Massy, a pilot from RAF Boulmer said: "The boys were were cold, wet and a bit shaken up but not hypothermic. They were very fortunate as the situation was very precarious."

Staithes and Skinningrove Coastguard were also on scene.

Humber Coastguard said as the two are young adults they did not need to speak to their parents but gave them words of advice.

It warned people to check the tides before setting off and to phone the coastguard and check for low water tides, to keep an eye on the tide and keep watch behind you.

* WAS it you or do you know who it was? If so, call the Whitby Gazette newsdesk on (01947) 829904.