Whale or container blamed for sinking of sail training ship
by Des Ryan on 17 Oct 2010
Asgard digitally enhanced just before she sank - photo by French Customs SW
The investigation into the loss of the Irish sail training vessel Asgard II more than two years ago off the northwest French coast has found that the ship may have collided with a container or another object such as a whale.
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board report was not able to rule conclusively on the cause of the sinking on September 11th, 2008.
However, video footage taken by an Irish diving team earlier in the summer confirms that the keel sustained impact which caused fracture to the timbers.
The 20 trainees and five crew were successfully rescued when the ship began to take in water at 1am while en route from Falmouth in England to the French port of La Rochelle.
The crew attempted to pump water out without success, a Mayday was issued, and the ship was abandoned at about 1.50am.
'It was very traumatic, albeit exciting for some,' Colm Newport, the ship's captain said at the time.
Newport said an automated alarm sounded after 2 a.m. warning that the hull was rapidly flooding. Emergency pumps 'couldn't cope with the inflow of water' and was suffering 'a critical loss in stability,' he said. So he ran through the quarters shouting for the passengers to get all hands on deck for evacuation, an emergency drill they had already practiced.
As the 20 trainees and five crew boarded life rafts, Newport said, the deck of the Asgard II was only minutes away from being washed over with waves. The captain said he thought the evacuation took about five minutes but couldn't be sure.
At the time of its sinking, the Asgard II was nearing the end of a weeklong voyage from Falmouth, southwest England, to the French port of La Rochelle. Its 'trainees' were aged from 16 to their mid-60s and included 18 Irish people, a Briton and an Italian.
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