Unable to trace the source of a massive leak, 'Asgard II' crew had no choice but to take to the lifeboats, says Capt Colm Newport, writes Lara Marlowe
ON THE videotape taken by the French navy's Dauphin helicopter, the Asgard II is already listing, its graceful form faintly outlined in the dark by the ship's twinkling lights.
When Capt Colm Newport launched the Mayday call at 3.10am yesterday, a merchant ship, the Arklow Venus, and the French navy schooner Belle-Poule were immediately re-routed towards the Asgard II. They watched from a distance as two lifeboats from the French volunteer sea rescue service SNSM picked up 25 crew and trainees, 21 of them Irish, at about 4.30am.
The lights of the other ships, also visible on the video, give the impression of a festive gathering. But then the ripples spread out from the stricken Asgard II, and gradually the lights go out, as she sinks into the Bay of Biscay.
The watch leader had contacted Capt Newport when the red alert light flashed on deck just after 3am.
"We were about 12 miles to the west of the island of Belle-Ile, in a southwesterly wind of force five to six, good sea conditions," Capt Newport recounted over the telephone. One sensed the devastation beneath the calm, professional manner. "We had a very fast ingress of water into the hull. We were unable to trace its source. I had to make the decision to abandon ship."
Capt Newport knew that he and 24 crew and trainees were in imminent danger of drowning. "Of course the sea has many perils, and we were staring them straight in the face, and we were lucky everybody performed exactly as required," he said.
"Everything went like clockwork. An evacuation at night, in the dark, is no joke. If we had lost one person, it would be unthinkable." The captain went through the ship, shouting "All hands on deck". It took only four or five minutes to fill three rafts that were tethered to the Asgard II.
Capt Newport and two crew stayed on board for about 20 minutes, to maintain radio contact with French rescue services.
"When we got off, she was a floating hulk. She was awash."
There was no time to grab belongings. By 9am, Anne Anderson, Ireland's Ambassador to France, was on the road with Consul Andrew Noonan, carrying emergency travel documents and small cash advances to see the stranded survivors home safely.
"I'm very struck by their high morale and calm," Ms Anderson said. "They felt their training really stood to them. They have enormous confidence in the crew."
At least one trainee arrived in Belle-Ile in her pyjamas. Few had shoes. "We arrived here pretty much as we stood, at about 5.30 or six this morning," Capt Newport said. The municipality of Le Palais, the main town on the small coastal island, provided clothing. In the afternoon, crew bought toothbrushes and basic necessities.
François Portugal, the head of the lifeboat station on Belle-Ile, watched the survivors from the Asgard II disembark on the quayside in Le Palais. "It was dark, raining and cold," he said. "But the whole operation went well. The municipality and fire department took over."
There is no indication as to why the Asgard II sank. Locals in Belle-Ile speculate she must have hit a floating object, but Capt Newport said there were other possibilities and that "it would be foolish to speculate". He has been at sea for 30 years, a master mariner for the past 18 years, captain of the Asgard II for eight. He is from Howth, where the first Asgard unloaded weapons from Germany close to a century ago.
"It's a total tragedy for myself and for the people of Ireland to lose the Asgard [11], if only temporarily," Capt Newport said. "To have lost any member of the crew would have been unthinkable."
The ship now lies in 90 metres of water. Could the Asgard II be salvaged? "It can, yes," Captain Newport said. "It will depend if it's economically viable or not." The survivors were initially taken to the town hall in Le Palais, where a meeting room was turned into a temporary shelter, complete with blankets and coffee. They spent last night at the Hotel Le Bretagne, and will make a six-hour bus journey to Paris, to catch a flight to Dublin, today.