Coastguards talked to the desperate woman for several minutes before the operator heard "Oh my God" and the line went dead.

Last night police confirmed the woman and two men had died after their cabin cruiser, ironically called the Last Call, overturned at the mouth of Whitby Harbour at lunchtime yesterday.

The three, believed to have come from Redcar and to have stayed overnight in Whitby, had been radioed three times by the town's lifeboat crew to warn them after they were spotted sailing towards the harbour entrance.

It is not known if their radio was switched on or if they ignored the messages and continued with their trip as the waves lashed across the harbour wall.

Local people expressed disbelief that anyone had gone to sea in such weather and said all the fishing fleet had stayed in harbour. Witnesses also praised the bravery of the lifeboat and RAF helicopter crews.

Lifeboatmen believe the skipper may have been fooled by a relative calm which had just appeared in the sea conditions.

The strong swell and high winds capsized the 24ft boat near the West Pier and swept the two men into the water.

As the cabin cruiser drifted beyond the sea wall, coastguard operators tried to help the woman but she was washed overboard.

She was plucked from the sea by a Sea King rescue helicopter from RAF Leconfield, which then took her to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough but she did not survive.

Her two companions were picked up, unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, 100 yards from the West Pier by the crew of the Whitby all-weather lifeboat.

One was taken to James Cook by the Great North Air Ambulance but also died. The second man was taken by road ambulance to Scarborough District Hospital, where he died at 6pm last night.

The skipper of the boat was reported to have only bought the craft in the past couple of weeks.

A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said conditions were so bad, with huge sea swells from the north, it was fortunate they were pulled from the water within minutes before being swept away all together.

"The only contact we had with the boat was after the two men had gone overboard – a woman rang on her mobile phone," said a Coastguard spokesman.

"She was talking to us for four or five minutes, we were trying to reassure her. Then she said: 'Oh my God' and was gone.

"In the river (the Esk flows into the harbour) you would not have known about the very heavy northern swell, with very big waves sweeping across the entrance to the harbour, which would give no chance of turning around.

"It would not matter how good a seaman you were, you would not stand a chance. It was the wrong boat, the wrong conditions, the wrong place and the wrong time."

Mike Bill, rescue coordination centre manager at Humber Coastguard, added: "We do not understand why these people went out in such conditions.

"We can only warn again that the sea is a killer and that in these very rough conditions individuals must be aware of the risks that they take when approaching or going out on the sea."

Yesterday's accident is the worst loss of life on the North Yorkshire coast since March 2005, when Kim Barrett, 33, and her children, Luke, 11, and Aimee Greenwood, 13, of West Park, Leeds, drowned at Scarborough.

Last night inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) were interviewing the lifeboat crew as they launched a preliminary investigation into the accident.

The MAIB is an independent body which investigates accidents in UK waters or elsewhere in the world when UK-registered craft are involved.

The North Yorkshire Eastern District Coroner has been informed of yesterday's deaths and he may refer to the MAIB's report during the eventual inquest. Relatives were being informed last night and North Yorkshire Police have appealed for any witnesses to call them on 0845 6060247.

The full article contains 704 words and appears in n/a newspaper.