Police divers searching for a man feared drowned after a boat sank in Plymouth have recovered a body.

It is believed that the man was on the former Navy launch Yarmouth Navigator when it started taking on water on Sunday while tied up near the Clovelly Bay Marina.

Three other crew members managed to escape, but a body was recovered on Monday afternoon in the area where the vessel sank.

A spokesman for Brixham Coastguard said:
“It would appear the man had gone back into the wheelhouse to retrieve some navigation equipment, when the vessel finally sank.”

The vessel was built in Lowestoft in 1943, according to the National Register of Historic Vessels, and served as a general purpose craft.

It had previously been berthed on the River Dart in Devon where the owner had been working on its engine.

Dart Harbour said in a statement: “It gives us great sadness to learn of the tragic circumstances surrounding the fate of the Yarmouth Navigator.

“The news is all the more surprising as it follows a successful passage from Dartmouth to Plymouth Sound by the vessel.

“Clearly our thoughts go out to the friends and family of the missing person at this time.”