OVERDUE Southend-on-Sea, Essex. At 2.47 a.m. on 26th August, 1965, the 28-foot fishing cruiser Gay Buccaneer was reported overdue on a passage from Southend to Wallasey Bay. Further inquiries were made and as there was no trace of the Gay Buccaneer the life-boat Greater London II (Civil Service No. 30) was launched at 3.15 in a moderate to fresh north-westerly breeze and corresponding sea. It was two hours after high water.

The life-boat went down the Maplin firing parachute flares at intervals and after entering the Whittaker Channel found the Gay Buccaneer, with a crew of two, high and dry one mile west of the Whittaker beacon. A tow line was connected and when there was sufficient water she was pulled clear, taken in tow to Wallasey Bay and moored alongside pontoon at Creeksea. The Gay Buccaneer's engine had broken down. The life-boat reached her station at 1.30 p.m..