The Pan I heard was a yacht that had been dismasted somewhere close to No Man's Fort. I didn't hear that it had hit it, but that could explain the dismasting...!
I think it was Bembridge Lifeboat that was launched to assist - if they have a "shouts" section on their website it might have more info.
A skipper of one of those pan pans was rather quick witted when called by the lifeboat who asked "have you got any distinguishing features to assit us finding you". The skipper replied "we have taken the mast down for you so you should be able to spot us"
