In high winds and mountainous seas, the Danish freighter
ss Merc Entrerprise carrying a grain cargo, foundered south of Plymouth.
Lands End Radio received the distress call and because it was beyond the range of the based
Whirlwind HAR.9 SAR Flt, an
ad hoc group of available Sea Kings were mobilised from
RNAS Culdrose to meet the only recently established (1973)
SAR commitment.
Apart from the gallant rescue of survivors and the tragic loss of life, a valuable lesson learned was the threat posed by salt ingestion into the Gnome engines, as both 89 55 and XV699 ended up making hazardous emergency landings, short of Culdrose.