The Coast Guard said the crew of the Hawaii-based longline fishing boat was listing on its port side Thursday, following some type of fire onboard.

The automatic emergency beacon on board the Golden Eagle 2, gave out the distress signal at 4 a.m.

The seven men aboard abandoned ship and were out on a life raft when the C-130 spotted them at sea six hours later.

The men were rescued 316 miles northwest of Johnston Atoll.

The Coast Guard radioed for nearby mariners to assist, and a Panamanian flagged ship, the Forestal Diamonte answered the call.

Six hours after the fishing boat's emergency beacon was triggered, the tanker was there to help.

"They picked up all seven survivors, transported them to their vessel and because no medical treatment was required they are going to keep motoring to their next port of call which is Japan," said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Mike Morin.

Cmdr. Morin couldn’t stress enough, the importance of the automatic emergency beacon that the long liner had on board.

"You didn’t have big seas. You had pretty good visibility for the C- 130 they were able to track into that beacon they were able to tune into that frequency and hone in," said Morin.

Thanks to the Panamanian vessel which assisted, the Coast Guard was able to make sure the men were safe without expending huge resources in the search and rescue.