After having safely made the journey from the river Dart, where she had been laid up for a number of years, to Plymouth Yacht Marina, at the mouth of Cattlewater, Clovelly Bay, the historic motor vessel Navigator got into difficulty on 30 January, started to take on water at her moorings and sank. Three members of the crew were saved from the water, but the acting skipper, 67-year-old Commander Robert Tallack, was tragically lost.
Commander Tallack ran a marine consultancy, IDG Maritime, which provided advice to ports around the world and had developed a port safety code for the MCA. He had also become president of the Sea Cadet Corps. His body was recovered the following day.Yarmouth Navigator was the second of the 90ft class of Admiralty MFVs built by Richards Ironworks at Lowestoft to a specification which allowed her, in addition to naval duties, to also operate as a fishing vessel. She was commissioned into the RN on 5 January 1944 as MFV 1502, and one of her first duties was to support the Normandy landings on 4 April 1944.
After being refitted in Portsmouth, she was converted to a fireboat in March 1945. Various roles followed, and she was placed on the National Register of Historic Ships in 1999
