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Two men rescued after boat runs aground on Cape Barren Island

Police have come to the aid of two men whose boat became grounded near Cape Barren, off Tasmania's north-east.

The 39-year-old from Launceston and the 36-year-old from Cressy were not injured and were taken to St Helens.

They were trying to sail a 7.5-metre recreational boat from Musselroe Bay to Clarke Island, south of Cape Barren Island.

Tasmania Police said the boat was originally in a group of three which ran into trouble last night after dragging and breaking anchors.

The two men and their boat got separated from the group and they were to forced abandon ship when the boat ran aground.

There was no damage to the boat and the men were not injured.

The men activated their emergency beacon just before 8:00am and were rescued after about two hours.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) coordinated the search and rescue, first asking a privately-piloted light aircraft to spot the men and another boat travelling with them.

AMSA's search and rescue aircraft was also sent from Melbourne and the men were picked up by the Hobart-based police helicopter.

Andrea Haywood-Maher from AMSA said the search and rescue only took two hours because the men had registered their emergency beacon.

"It's really vital in a situation like this that we are able to contact people who know where the beacon's owners are, so they can list a number of emergency contacts and that way we're able to get valuable intelligence about what areas they're in," she said.