A tragedy occurred at Balintore harbour in July 1961 when 67 year old David Vass of Port Street fell from the end of the harbour and was drowned. Mr. Vass, who was retired merchant navy sailor, was seen by a woman standing on the end of the harbour,  seconds later he had disappeared. The woman shouted for help and Police Constable Neil Ross ran to the end of the pier stripping off his uniform as he ran. Mr Vass was still afloat when Constable Ross dived in but before he could reach him he had gone down and P.C. Ross was unable to find him. A boat from the harbour went out and Mr. Vass was located and hauled aboard but he did not recover from artificial  respiration.