A father and son in the US have been pulled to safety after desperately clinging to a cool box in the water when their boat started sinking several miles from the coast.

The rescue at the outermost edge of Boston Harbour, Massachusetts, was caught on video by police bodycam, with the son heard to say “we’re so weak”.

He asked the harbour patrol officers to rescue his 76-year-old father before him.

“Help him up please,” he said. “Help him up first.”

The older man, who was wearing a life jacket, was then pulled on to the police boat.

His son, who was holding on to a life ring, was next to be saved.

Officers Stephen Merrick and Garrett Boyle had responded to a call around 6.30pm on Wednesday about a boat taking on water near Graves Light Station.

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The privately-owned lighthouse is on a rocky islet about nine miles from the coast.

When the officers approached the scene they only saw a small part of the bow of the lobster vessel, Glory Days, above water.

But as they got nearer, they noticed the two men holding on to the blue cool box.

“You could see the fear in their face,” Mr Merrick said.

“They were cold. They looked very tired and weak.”

The boat’s engine had become tangled in lobster lines and failed, the unnamed pair said.

The current then pushed the vessel on to the rocks and punctured the hull, according to police.

The men were taken to shore where medics treated them for minor injuries, and their boat was taken from the scene.

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