Ballycotton, Co. Cork - At 12.55 p.m. on 24th August, 1968, the honorary secretary received a report that the fishing boat Naomh Fergus with a crew of three had fired flares three and a half miles west by south of Ballycotton lighthouse. The life-boat Ethel Mary slipped her moorings at 1.5 in a fresh north north-westerly breeze with a choppy sea. It was low water. She came up with the fishing boat 25 minutes later and took her in tow to Ballycotton, returning to her station at 2.30..