Fishing boats from the nearby fishing port of Eyemouth were the first on the scene and encountered a field of debris, fuel oil, clothing and body parts. Additionally, the British destroyers HMS "Stag" and "Express" had spotted the smoke and headed for the pall of smoke, only to find that what few survivors there were had already been rescued. (There was an anecdotal story that one of the destroyers had an engine problem when a water inlet was blocked by a leg in a seaboot.)