THE skipper of the Castletownbere trawler, Mr Danny O'Driscoll, who died last Sunday after a collision with a Spanish fishing vessel, might have been saved if he had not stayed in the wheelhouse to broadcast a mayday message.
According to a radio operator in the Castletownbere area who followed the last movements of the Exodus, it seems that it took about half an hour to locate Mr O'Driscoll in the water after the collision.
The radio operator, who did not wish to be named, said that a call had gone out at about 1.20 p.m. on Sunday afternoon from the skipper to say that he had been hit. "It looks as if he placed more importance on making that call than on getting himself to safety and away from the sinking vessel.
"When I picked up the call the skipper was in the wheelhouse giving his position. He said: `We've been hit, we're going down' but he was cut off in mid sentence. The radio just fell silent," the radio operator said.
It appears from the brief distress message that Mr O'Driscoll may have seen the Spanish vessel approaching and knew that a collision was imminent. But while the other two crew members took immediate action to save their lives after the impact, Mr O'Driscoll remained in the wheelhouse to give his position. The seconds that elapsed during the call may have proved fatal.
After the single call, which was also received by Valentia Radio, the alarm was raised. In the meantime, the Spanish vessel had launched a raft and transferred the two survivors from their own raft.