The boat reportedly set off from an area in the Bay of Seine, around 170 miles from the usual departure points near Calais, making the journey significantly longer than the typical Channel crossing.
French coastguard officials said two Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) boats rescued the migrants after the vessel reached British waters and raised a request for assistance.
French rescue teams monitored the boat for around 10 hours. Officials said attempting to stop the vessel while it was at sea would have been dangerous, so it was allowed to continue into British waters, where lifeboats from Bembridge and Yarmouth took control of the situation.
The incident comes days after UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed efforts to strengthen measures aimed at preventing irregular crossings by small boats.
Tensions were also reported in Portsmouth on Sunday night near Eastney Landing ferry port, where police confronted protesters as people arriving by small boats were brought ashore.
A day earlier, a large group of masked protesters demonstrated against small-boat crossings at Dover port, disrupting normal operations.
According to the report, a record 230 people crossed the English Channel to Britain aboard a single small boat in August.