Lerwick, Shetlands. At 8.6 on the evening of the llth of January, 1961, the coastguard informed the honorary secretary that red flares had been seen south-east of Bressay Lighthouse in the direction of the Ord. A south-by-east gale was blowing, and the sea was rough. The sky was overcast and the weather blustery. The tide was ebbing.

At 8.31 the life-boat Claude Cecil Staniforth was launched. She found the seine-net boat Sheryl of Buckie in a position inside Bressay Lighthouse and not outside, as had originally been reported. Three men were picked up from a rubber dinghy, the remainder of the crew of six having managed to reach the shore at Bressay. The three survivors picked up from the dinghy were landed by the life-boat, which continued to stand by until it was con- firmed that the three men who had gone ashore were safe. The life-boat returned to her station at 9.8..