Yorkshire Post reporter Martin Slack was among the few braving the elements to take a walk on the West Pier and noticed the cabin cruiser, heading at speed for the harbour entrance.

He was surprised by the way the skipper appear to be gunning the engine, as he stood braced against the wind, his head down.

"It was a tiny little boat, more like a riverboat, coming up the middle of the harbour," he said.

"It hit one wave, then a second and went end over end. There were three people on board. The lifeboat came out and got two of them.

"When the boat went over and two people came out there was still someone on board.

"It capsized a second time and when it came back up there was nobody on it. The Sea King picked up the third person.

"There was hardly anyone about and then people started running down once it became clear what was happening."

"It was complete madness to take a boat out. It was the most reckless thing I've ever seen in my life," he said.

Another bystander, who had called emergency services on a mobile telephone, stayed on the line to help to direct the Whitby lifeboat towards the two men in the water. The height of the waves – believed to be as high as 20ft to 30ft at the time – was making them difficult to spot.

Kevin Hodgson, lead paramedic on the Great North Air Ambulance (GNAA), said the helicopter pilot faced very difficult conditions as he landed on a narrow pier 50 yards from Whitby Lifeboat Station. "The weather was atrocious. There were hailstones and it was very windy," said Mr Hodgson.

The helicopter was scrambled at 12.40pm and took about 15 minutes to reach the town from its base at Durham Tees Valley Airport. The crew came to the aid of one man from the boat who paramedics were trying to save.
He was airlifted to hospital in Middlesbrough where he was pronounced dead.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service said off-duty paramedics had rushed to the scene to offer assistance and worked alongside the RNLI volunteers.