`Carrickatine' report unable to establish cause of disappearance

The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, is expected to introduce legislation on fishing vessel safety on foot of the official report into the loss of the Donegal vessel, Carrickatine. The report is unable to establish the cause of the accident on Nov ember 15th, 1995, in which six people died, as no trace of the bodies or the vessel has been found. However, whatever happened was probably "rapid and devastating", leaving the crew no time to reach the deck, it says.

The Greencastle vessel had been fishing on the Stanton banks, some 50 miles north of Malin Head, Co Donegal, on the day it disappeared. A number of other vessels which had been working in the area returned to port because of adverse weather conditions, and it was assumed the Carricka tine intended to do likewise.

On board were skipper Jeremy McKinney of Moville; his brother, Conal McKinney; John Kelly of Bally magroarty, Derry; his son, Stephen; Terry Doherty of Green castle and Bernard Gormley, also of Greencastle.

Mr William Alan Brown, a crew member who was not on that trip as he was moving house at the time, assisted in the compilation of the report by the Department of the Marine's marine survey office.

The facts that the 25-year-old 85foot steel vessel had no emergency position-indicating radio beacon, no "float-free" facility on its two life rafts, and that its VHF radio was reported to have been causing difficulties did not contribute to the crew's chances of survival, the report suggests.

The skipper had reported an engine failure and a list in some of his last radio communications on November 15th, 1995.

The vessel, owned by Mr Denis Boyle, was not licensed for radio communication. The last survey of life rafts - which is an annual requirement - was in February 1994. German-built, it was modified when brought to Ireland in 1991. A new deck area aft was covered in a layer of concrete and additional freeing-ports were cut in the bulwark structure.

The report says it has not been possible to establish the amount of concrete used for this modification. Escape routes from certain quarters of the vessel, notably the engine-room, were limited. Under the circumstances, the crew did not have time to reach the deck and were trapped in the vessel.

The report says the skipper, one of a very experienced crew, had told another vessel by radio that he had had to stop the engine for a while to clean an oil filter on the gearbox. The engine had "clutched out", he was reported to have said. When it was running again, the ship had a list, which he said he would need to "sort out".

He did not specify the extent of the list or whether it was to port or to starboard. There was no further contact with the Carrickatine. The alarm was raised later than night when the vessel failed to re turn to Greencastle, initiating what may have been the largest and most detailed and comprehensive sea search operation in the history of the State. Units of the Irish Marine Emergency Service, the Naval Service, Air Corps, Irish Lights, the RNLI and local fishing vessels were involved, with Naval Service patrol ships and the Irish Lights tender, Granuaile, continuing well into the new year.

Use of underwater search equipment in the latter stages was hampered by the presence of a large number of wrecks of submarines and merchant vessels, scuttled or sunk during two world wars in the area. Some items of debris were found, including a gas cylinder and a pound board from the vessel's deck.

Outlining possible causes, the report rules out massive structural failure and an explosion on board, but says significance must be attached to the skipper's report of a list, which could have been caused by several factors. It says it has not been possible to establish whether there were any submarines in the area at the time, but even if there were, proof of a collision would require examination of the wreck.

The accident, which was one of two on the same day and one of nine deaths at sea in a month, sparked a bitter row over the ageing state of the whitefish fleet, and the appalling conditions in which skippers and crew were expected to work under EU restrictions on fleet size.

The Killybegs harbourmaster, Capt Philip McParlin, resigned in protest at Government inaction, and said the Carrickatine was an accident waiting to happen. Fishing vessels were surveyed only on fleet entry and there were no requirements on stability, radio, load line or use of the latest safety equipment, he said.

The then minister for the marine, Mr Sean Barrett, initiated a fishing vessel safety review, which produced a comprehensive re port, and a new whitefish renewal package was negotiated with the EU Commission, details of which were recently announced by Dr Woods.

A funeral for the missing crew was held on the Naval flagship, LE Eithne, in February 1996.