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AURIGA - KY1007


AURIGA - KY1007


    braw pic O0 :D
    She sank - 30 June 2005

    See MAIB Report @ http://www.maib.gov....ile=/Auriga.pdf

    Quote

    SYNOPSIS

    On 30 June 2005, the fishing vessel Auriga (Figure 1) capsized
    and sank about 6 miles north-east of Portavogie, Northern
    Ireland. The skipper and his crewman were both rescued from
    the stricken vessel’s liferaft. Sea conditions at the time were
    slight with light SSE winds.

    Auriga was 3 hours into her second tow when she slowed down.
    It was felt that possibly a trawl door had dropped, but when
    attempts to rectify this showed no increase in the vessel’s
    speed, it left the crew with little option other than to haul the
    gear.

    As the trawl wires were hove in, it became apparent that there was an abnormal
    weight in, or on, the gear; this was indicated by the winch showing signs of strain as
    the hydraulic pressure relief valve lifted. Because of the strain on the winch, it took
    some time to ease the doors up to the gallows but, eventually, the doors were
    retrieved, secured alongside and unhooked from the trawl warps. The sweeps were
    transferred from the warp ends and wound onto the net drum; at first the net drum was
    able to haul in the sweeps and the wing ends of the net fairly easily, but as the net
    built up, the net drum hydraulic relief valve, like the winch before it, started to lift, and
    hauling slowed dramatically. At that point, there was no indication of what was causing
    the weight in the net. The crew were able to retrieve the dog rope, which led from the
    wing lastridge1 to the cod end. This allowed them to haul in this rope onto the winch
    drum ends by leading the dog rope up and over the gantry above the fish hopper.
    Slowly, by systematically hauling on the dog rope and winding slack netting onto the
    drum, recovery of the net continued. Until then, the boat had been idling at dead slow
    ahead before the wind. To take strain off the gear, the skipper put the vessel into
    neutral; once in neutral the vessel started to fall off the wind and, as this happened,
    the weight of the net, suspended from the gantry, affected the vessel’s transverse
    stability, resulting in a dramatic list. This was not recognised until after starboard deck
    edge immersion had occurred and water was building up on deck.

    Recognising their perilous situation, the crew abandoned to their liferaft, without
    having time to transmit a distress or don lifejackets. Fortunately, Auriga’s EPIRB
    floated free as the vessel sank, and its transmissions alerted MRCC Falmouth of a
    possible emergency. SAR services were notified and tasked to the scene of the
    sinking.

    After an hour in their liferaft, Auriga’s crew were rescued by a passing container ship,
    whose watchkeeper spotted their pinpoint flare. The survivors were then transferred to
    the Donaghadee lifeboat and returned to their home port of Portavogie. Neither of the
    crew were injured.