TELEPHONE ENQUIRIES Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. At 7.45 p.m. on i3th October, 1963, the gardai told the honorary secretary that red flares had been seen off Bray Head. As the information was not definite the honorary secretary rang various hotels and police barracks along the coast to ascertain whether a boat had been reported missing.

At 8.45 one of the members of the local life-boat committee confirmed that the motor boat Pacheco was missing between Greystones and Bray Head. There was a gentle south-westerly breeze with a choppy sea. The life-boat Dunleary II was launched at nine o'clock on an ebbing tide. When abeam of Bray Head the coxswain saw a flashing light and came up with the converted ship's life-boat Maria with three people on board. She had put out to search for the Pacheco but her engine had broken down. The life-boat took the Maria in tow and continued to search for the Pacheco with the aid of parachute flares. The Pacheco, with a crew of two, was eventually found and both boats were towed back to Dun Laoghaire, arriving at 12.35 a.m..