The Coast Guard escorted to safety a mother and her three children after they reported their sailboat was taking on water.

The Coast Guard received a radio report from the Portsmouth, N.H.-based Leona Pearl that an accident a few days earlier may have punctured the hull and the 30-foot vessel was taking on water.

The Boston-based patrol boat Flyingfish was in the area and met the boat 12 miles southwest of Cape Small, Maine, at 12:18 p.m. Cape Small is south of Bath.

The patrol boat took the children - ages 13, 11, and 9 - on board. The bilge pumps were keeping up with the flooding and the boat was escorted to Portland.