March 1968

On 25th March 1968, the search for survivors and debris was resumed by aircraft and ships from the U.K.at 07:15hrs. Nothing was found until aproximately 13.41hrs, when wreckage was sighted and bodies recovered from a position 6 nautical miles north-east of Tuskar Rock. More floating wreckage was reported scattered for a further 6 nautical miles north-west of this point.

The Irish Naval Service ship, L.E.. Macha,, which had been on patrol off the north-west coast, was re-deployed to the area and joined in the search on 26 March 1968, taking over duty as Search Controller.

A total of 13 bodies were eventually recovered in the search during the next few days, together with a quantity of light floating wreckage-mostly cabin furnishings, personal baggage, seat cushions, and the wheels and inner cylinder from the port main landing gear. One additional body was recovered later.

Royal Navy involvement

The British Ministry of Defense maintained a high profile during the salvage operations. An early and major contribution to the recovery effort was the deployment of a state-of-the-art salvage vessel, the "Hector Gull".

The position of the main wreckage remained obscure in spite of prolonged search by such sonar equipped vessels as the ‘Hector Gull’ and trawling by Irish trawlers—"Glendalough" from Kilmore Quay and ""Cu na Mara" of the Irish Fisheries Board (An Bord Iascaigh Mhara). The Irish government also later confirmed that the Royal Air Force had trawled the crash area with steel nets but little was found.

Aer Lingus accused of supplying Royal Navy with incorrect flight path data.

However, the Royal Navy in a just released report ( September 1998 ) claimed that Aer Lingus failed to give vital information to the British search authorities on the projected flight path. ‘This handicapped the air and sea search from the start’ it claims. ‘If this information had been given at the time, it is almost certain that the wreckage of Flight 712 and the bodies of the 47 passengers trapped inside would have been found much sooner.’

Aer Lingus originally insisted that the plane did not go down near Tuskar Rock and so no detailed search was made in the area. The Royal Navy later reported that ‘Air authorities must make all their information available to the Commanding Officer of the Search Force. On this occasion, information which could have been useful was not forthcoming.’ The report goes on to say that it was some days before Aer Lingus revealed that the aircraft was ‘way off course’

HMS Reclaim

With little of the wreckage discovered by May 20th, HMS Reclaim skippered by Captain P.J.Messervy, sailed into the general area to begin another search. Messervy was warned by the Irish Naval Service that the operation may have been called off due to the Irish Government reported threats to abandon the search for wreckage because of rising costs.

According to the Royal Navy report on the search, Messervy observed that as far as the Irish Government was concerned ‘keeping costs down seemed to be as important as finding the wreckage’…adding that ‘I was told by a senior naval officer that if the aircraft was not found in this phase, his Government would call us off…the whole operation was piecemeal. The general feeling was always trying to grab what we could in case we were not coming back. I felt this was no way to run a major salvage task.’

The St.Phelim found.

Over 10 weeks after the crash, on 5 June 1968 the trawler "Glendalough" in position 1.72 nautical miles from Tuskar Rock with Tuskar bearing 280° and brought up a quantity of positively identifiable wreckage from the ‘St. Phelim’. This was near the location that Martin O’Donoghue, a 15 year old teen and one of only two eye-witness to the crash, reported seeing a plane nose-dive into the sea and a large column of water erupting from the spot.

The "Cu na Mara" in the same location also brought up wreckage and Royal Navy vessels moved to the location. The following day more wreckage was brought up by these trawlers, and divers from H.M.S. Reclaim were sent down to inspect the wreckage. On their return the divers confirmed a mass of wreckage "like a scrap yard" in this position, confirming that the cabin was mostly intact along with many of the passenger’s bodies still strapped to their seats but that a major portion of the aircraft at least was located here. The Irish Government were advised of the findings the same day but in turn failed to inform relatives of the possibility that most of the missing bodies were still in the wreckage.

Attempts to raise the St. Phelim

HMS Reclaim now began the task of raising what remained of the aircraft fuselage and contents.

Standard reclaimation practice with wreckage in deep water is to use nets to raise what is found, distributing weight and ensuring most of the craft remains together. However, still questioned to this day was HMS Reclaim’s use of straps instead of nets to raise the fuselage. As what remained of the St. Phelim reached the surface, it broke apart, fell back into the sea and sank. While small parts of the wreckage were recovered, the investigation was set back completely and no other bodies recovered.

‘Lord knows what we would have found’ a witness to the attempt, Mr McCabe said later.

The 1970 Irish Accident report comments that ‘The aircraft was totally demolished by violent impact with the sea. The bulk of the wreckage was found in 39 fathoms of water with all parts lying in close proximity.

The recovered wreckage revealed extensive damage to the whole structure, which virtually disintegrated ‘

Evidence removed from the crash site by the Royal Navy?

Rumours quickly developed from the crash site, alleging that while most of the aircraft parts found were collected and brought to port by the Irish Navy for assesment, key components were removed from the scene by a number of Royal Navy vessels.

The evidence to date that damages the consistent British Ministry of Defence’s claims that no wreckage or personal effects were removed from the scene, lies with the testimony of a sailor aboard HMS Penelope. He has stated that a section of Flight 712’s undercarriage was taken to a British port.

In addition the written testimony of a retired Lieutenant-Commander in the Irish Navy, revealed in January 1999, alleges that while at the scene aboard the L.E. Macha, he had telephoned his superior officer to discover what should be done with "a piece of salvage" taken on board the vessel that had unusual damage marks, differing from other wreckage collected. He was told to "give it to the British ship" helping in the salvage operation, which he did, and it was "sent away".

The British vessel is believed to have been HMS Penelope.

Since the crash, the British Ministry of Defence has consistently denied that it attempted any cover-up of crash evidence, or removing parts of the wreckage. This is despite the fact that the full report on it’s activities with the recovery of Flight EI-712 was not released until September 1998. It insisted and continues to do so, that it’s role was to assist in the recovery operation only.