A LARGE-SCALE sea search was conducted for a missing yachtsman after a vessel was discovered on rocks on the Cornish coast.

The alert was raised on the evening of Friday, June 13, and members of the Mevagissey coastguard team headed to nearby Chapel Point.

They located the yacht which had its sails still set. The coastguards, wearing dry suits, boarded the vessel but found no-one aboard.

The discovery led to a major incident involving a coastguard helicopter and aeroplane, lifeboats from Fowey, Falmouth, Looe and the Lizard, coastguards from St Austell and Portscatho, and Devon and Cornwall Police, the search being co-ordinated by Falmouth Coastguard.

The Fowey lifeboat crew launched at 8.40pm and went to the scene. The crew then carried out a series of search patterns between Chapel Point, the Dodman and the Lizard, before the lifeboat was stood down at 4.50am and returned to Fowey.

One of the lifeboats from Looe took part in the search for nearly four hours and returned to the port at just after 3am. At one point the inshore lifeboat was more than 19 nautical miles out from Looe.

Falmouth’s relief Shannon class lifeboat George and Frances Phelon was launched at 11pm and headed for the search through driving rain. After taking part for four hours, the vessel headed back to Falmouth at 3.40am.

A spokesperson for the Lizard lifeboat said: “Our crew were paged at 12.29am on Saturday, June 14. RNLB Rose launched on service at 12.44am and under the command of second coxswain Darren Thirlaway we were asked to join the search for a potential missing yachtsman whose vessel had been sighted close to Chapel Point with its anchor deployed and all systems operational but with no trace of any occupants.”

No-one was found and the lifeboat was stood down at 4.35am after more than four hours at sea.