A FISHERMAN has died after falling overboard from his vessel in stormy weather.

James Grindy, 24, died when he fell from a fishing boat in "atrocious" weather while working in the English Channel about 20 miles off Hastings, East Sussex.

His mother paid tribute to her son as the full extent of James' crewmates' heroism in trying to save him became clear – diving into the swirling water in a futile bid to pull him to safety.

James's mother Jackie Leaman said: "He always made me proud whatever he did. There was not a bad bone in that boy's body.

"Whenever I was feeling stressed he always showed me a better way of dealing with things. He was an inspiration to me and he was my son, it should have been the other way round."

James, from Brixham, South Devon, was working on board the 29-metre Lowestoft-registered Korenbloem when tragedy struck at about 7pm on Friday.

Yesterday, full details of the crew's "heroic" efforts to save their friend emerged.

Boat owner Neil Watson said: "What they did was brilliant, selfless and heroic. They risked their lives to try and save him.

"The crew are not sure exactly what happened before James went in the water. When they realised he was in the water and they could see he was going underneath, Joe Fellowes and John-Paul Kimble dived straight in to stop him going down.

"Before they got hold of him they had to dive down twice to get him. They managed to keep him up and got him inside the boat where the crew did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They got him breathing again; he was breathing when he was airlifted from the boat."

British and French coastguards joined forces to try to save Mr Grindy, with a French coastguard helicopter airlifting him to medical facilities on the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel RFA Mounts Bay.

Pete Legg, senior coastguard watch manager, said: "Conditions in the Channel were atrocious on Friday night and the crew did an excellent job to get their colleague back on board.

"Sadly, despite the very best efforts of them, the French coastguard and the medical staff on the Mounts Bay, the fisherman lost his life."

Mrs Leaman said she would like to thank the crew for their efforts in trying to save her son.

"I know that they are absolutely devastated," she said. "I want them to know that I will be forever thankful for their endeavours to do right by James. I hope they can recover from this. My thoughts are with them."

Mrs Leaman said James was in the Royal Navy for three years and that may have been what attracted him to fishing. She said he loved it in the Navy and left when his son was born in 2006.

Mrs Leaman said he loved the crew of the fishing boat and wanted to do it despite the dangers of the job.

"I used to say to him 'come home and get off the boats because it is so dangerous'. But he would say to me 'when it's your time it's your time'," she said.

"I am really proud of the man he became."