Unaccompanied inflatable toys swept out to sea by a gust of wind sparked a full-scale emergency response on Thursday afternoon.
Alarmed crew members on board a fishing vessel phoned the coastguard after spotting the items off the coast near a packed Lunan Bay beach.
Coastguard teams from Montrose and Arbroath and a lifeboat from Montrose were paged to search for anyone in distress.
No 999 calls had been received and it was soon established nobody was in danger.
The alert came three weeks after two children at Montrose beach were washed out to sea on an inflatable pink flamingo.
Holidaymaker Kaitlynn McEwan, 14, was one of those rescued by her father Jamie and coastguard volunteers after she was swept 100 yards from the shore.
The owner of the toys involved in Thursday’s drama said they had taken off in the wind with nobody on them and he did not realise he should have reported it.
A spokesman for HM Coastguard Angus and Mearns said: “Two coastguard teams (12 officers) and one lifeboat (six crew) dropped what they were doing at their place of work or while out with family fearing somebody was in difficulty.”
