Ballycotton, Co. Cork - At 3.45 p.m.

on llth July, 1969, the Ballycotton lighthouse keeper told the honorary secretary that flares had been sighted about eight miles west south west of Ballycotton. At 3.55 the life-boat Ethel Mary slipped her moorings in a moderate west north westerly wind with a choppy sea. The tide was ebbing. At 4.45 the life-boat found the fishing boat Naomh Fergus with her crew of five on board. Her engine had broken down. She was taken in tow to Ballycotton, and the life-boat returned to her station at 5.55..