Body of man (66) recovered after two rescued in boat search

Two survivors of a west Cork boating accident that claimed the life of a 66-year-old man spent the night on an uninhabited island after their vessel capsized.

The pair, a couple visiting from the UK, were spotted on a cliff at Castle Island just off the mouth of Schull harbour by rescue officials early yesterday.

“They were incoherent, though they were in a dishevelled state and visibly shook,” Schull Inshore Lifeboat PRO Denis Quinlan said.

The pair told rescuers that all three on board were in the water clinging to the vessel, a 19ft Drascombe Lugger, after it capsized.

It is thought the vessel may have capsized after it was hit by a gust of wind. Weather conditions were reported to be windy on Wednesday evening, with squalls and wind speeds locally of between 15 and 20 knots.

The male survivor, aged 75 and his 66-year-old companion, were located at 6.15am when the crew of Schull Inshore Lifeboat heard the sound of what they initially thought was a seagull.

“On further investigation they spotted two people up on a cliff about 40ft above sea level on the western end of the island,” Mr Quinlan said.

Unable to bring the 6.8m rescue rib ashore, the rescue crew of four circled around to the pier located on the north eastern end of Castle Island and made their way to the survivors across the island on foot. Suffering from hypothermia but otherwise uninjured, the couple were airlifted to Baltimore and then transferred to Bantry General Hospital.

The body of their sailing companion, Douglas Perrin, was recovered at 7.15am yesterday morning after rescue officials spotted his life-jacket around a mile from Castle Island, drifting in the direction of Cape Clear.

Mr Perrin and his wife Judith rented a house in Schull some years ago before buying a property in Dunbeacon, outside Durrus.

“I always saw him going up and down the pier, he would be taking a little rib out to his boat. He would always say hello. He loved the water and he loved sailing,” Bernard O’Driscoll from Schull said yesterday.

The badly damaged ‘Zillah’ was recovered by navy divers at Carthy’s Islands, a small group of islets south east of Castle Island. The rudder was reefed, the gunnel was badly damaged and the sails were smashed.

The boat was secured to the side of the Navy’s 28ft rib and brought ashore at Schull pier at 3.30pm. It will be examined by Marine Casualty Investigation Board officials as part of a routine investigation.

The vessel capsized last night after leaving Schull Harbour for a leisurely two to three hour sail around Long Island in Roaring Water Bay.

The alarm was raised by Mr Perrin’s wife after they failed to return at 7pm as expected, prompting a major search involving Baltimore RNLI, Schull Inshore Lifeboat, Coastguard crews from Toe Head/ Glandore and Goleen, the Coastguard helicopter and local boats.

The survivors told rescuers they made the decision to swim to shore, a distance of around 100m, as their capsized boat drifted past Castle Island, south east toward Carthy’s Island.

“The boat wasn’t going to make it to land so they decided to swim for it,” Denis Quinlan, PRO and Launch Authority of Schull Inshore Lifeboat said.