SEARCH FOR BODY At ii a.m. on the following day the Ardrossan harbour master told the honorary secretary that the pilot boat at Ardrossan had capsized on leaving a tanker and that a pilot had been drowned. He asked if the life-boat would help to mark the position of the sunken boat and to try and recover the body when the weather moderated. As no other suitable boat was available and the weather eased during the afternoon, the life-boat Glencoe, Glasgow, on temporary duty at the station, was launched at 6 p.m. in a moderate south-westerly wind and moderate sea and embarked two pilots at Ardrossan.

The position of the sunken boat, in 50 feet of water near the entrance to the harbour, was buoyed. The body was not found and the life-boat returned to her station at 9.55. The Ardrossan Harbour Company made a donation to the Institution's funds..