The Aquila

Just under a year ago, on 20th July 2009, the clam dredger Aquila sank on Bo Fascadale reef, to the north of Ardnamurchan. The recently-published Marine Accident and Investigation Branch report, available here, details the events which led up to the disaster, in which three men lost their lives. It makes compulsive reading.

The events, in brief, were as follows. The Aquila was moving on a southeasterly course across the reef, with the wind from the west-south-west, a moderate to rough sea, and a heavy, westerly swell. She towed two sets of dredges, one on each side, by wire warps which had been winched out, then held with a bar - there was no mechanism for detaching the warps in an emergency. When - as was not uncommon - the starboard warp snagged on a rock, the engine was put out of gear, but the ship, held by the warp, yawed violently and heeled to starboard, offering her deck to the sea and allowing a large wave to break into the open galley.

The crew, who were in the galley, managed to escape, as did the skipper, but both the life raft and the emergency EPIRB beacon fouled. Neither reached the surface. As a consequence, it was only the swift action of a visitor to Ardnamurchan, who saw the incident, and the cool, accurate report given to HM Coastguard by Mary Khan from Kilmory, which enabled a full rescue to get under way.

Ardnamurchan is split between two Coastguard regions - Stornoway to the north and Clyde to the south. Clyde began to deal with the incident but chose to pass it to Stornoway, in the process standing down the Royal Navy rescue helicopter at Prestwick when she was almost ready to lift off. As a result some 23 minutes were lost before the Stornoway Coastguard helicopter reached the scene.

For three of the men in the water this delay made little difference but, for the fourth, only the swift reaction and superb seamanship of a single-handed yachtsman on the Arran Comrade ensured his survival. The other three bodies were later recovered by the emergency services.

The report shows that the Aquila, because of modifications made during her working life, was inherently unstable. Whether this made any real difference is unclear - this sad, sad tale is one of many which illustrate the dangers faced by those men who daily go to sea.

Photos show the Aquila in September, after she had been towed into a bay to the east of Kilmory; she was later salvaged.