Rescue teams were scrambled to the Golspie area following reports of a suspicious item in the water.
A member of the public raised the alarm to police around 5pm after seeing an item floating off the coast of the Sutherland village.
Coastguard teams from Inverness, Dornoch and Cromarty attended alongside firefighters, police and Dornoch inshore lifeboat.
A thorough investigation was carried out by teams.
However, the incident was deemed a false alarm a short time later.