On May the 4th. 1927 the steam trawler TINKER LOVETT was ten miles to the south-east of Maughold Head on the Isle of Man. The crew spotted a derelict sailing smack and they lowered a small boat and crossed to the derelict to investigate.

The smack was the PLAYMATE and had been hurriedly abandoned in an eerie duplication of the Marie Celesté. There was freshly cooked food about and the sails were hanging over the side. It was obvious that the vessel had taken in water and Tinker Lovett's attempt to tow the derelict had to be abandoned due to the danger of it being swamped.

The skipper of TINKER LOVETT , Fred Chard, is quoted as saying "The derelict was tossing about in heavy seas when we first sighted her. She would probably have had a crew of three men and had been abandoned in a great hurry, as the sails were blown overboard. We searched for some time but could see no trace of a small boat or the crew. We abandoned her half an hour after talking her in tow or she would have sunk."

It later transpired that the Fleetwood steam trawler, JBM came across PLAYMATE and started to tow her when the derelict suddenly sank. The crew of PLAYMATE had been picked up some 24 miles of Douglas and landed at Preston. There were only two men aboard, Richard Knowles, of Liverpool, and Joseph Corlett of Douglas. The two lost all their belongings and were in a bad way when they were picked up with one of them being unconscious and the boat half full of water.