Naval patrol ship to arrive in Cork

The Naval Service patrol ship, LE Eithne, is due into Cork harbour from the US tomorrow, when a short service will be held for the family of the seaman lost during the Atlantic passage.

The search for Able Mechanic Robert Dean (20) from Cork city was stood down by the Canadian Coastguard on Thursday night after an extensive air and sea scan of a 100 sq mile area throughout the day, involving the LE Eithne, a fixed-wing aircraft and a tug.

Able Mechanic Dean was last seen 10 minutes before he was due to report for a morning watch, and the alert was raised on the ship when he failed to report for duty. The ship turned back on its course some 920 miles west of Bantry and began a sea search. The operation was co-ordinated by the Canadian Coastguard in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Members of Mr Dean's family will be joined on the LE Eithne at the naval base in Haulbowline on Sunday by the ship's commander, Cdr Jim Robinson, the Flag Officer Commanding the Naval Service, Commodore John Kavanagh, and the Officer Commanding Naval Operations Command, Capt Frank Lynch. The Naval Service chaplain, Father Des Campion, also held a short service on board the vessel after the search was called off on Thursday night.

Mr Dean had been in the Naval Service for only one year, and the LE Eithne was his first ship, with the US visit being his first sea trip abroad. The Atlantic crossing was the second undertaken by the vessel, and involved visiting three US ports, Newport, Rhode Island, New York and Boston, as part of the Tall Ships festival. The sail training vessel, Asgard II, has also participated in the Tall Ships race.

Mr Dean is the second seaman in the service to have been lost on operational duty. Leading Seaman Michael Quinn from Drogheda, Co Louth, died in January 1990 in the course of an attempt to rescue a Spanish fishing vessel which had run aground with 17 crew on board during a storm warning in Bantry Bay.