Salvage experts were last night hopeful of raising the sunken trawler, the Pere Charles, in the early hours of this morning after making good progress in carrying out preparatory work to right the vessel on the sea bed prior to lifting.
The salvage operation on the Pere Charles, which sank in 34 metres of water two miles off Hook Head, began at about lunchtime yesterday, when a special crane barge went to the site of the sinking and salvage experts began the task of righting the vessel on the sea bed.
The decision to right the Pere Charles, which was lying upside down on the sea bed, prior to lifting followed a disagreement between the Irish Coast Guard, which is co-ordinating the operation for the Department of Transport, and the salvage company, Irish Diving Contractors.
The Irish Coast Guard had insisted that the boat be righted first before the lifting began to prevent anything falling from the vessel, while the salvage company was anxious to lift the boat as she lay to avail of the current spell of good weather, which is due to end on Thursday.
The salvage company agreed to right the boat prior to lifting, and yesterday salvage experts from the Dutch operators of the crane barge began the task of righting the 19-metre trawler on the sea bed in an anticipation of lifting her in the early hours of this morning.
According to Ger Hegarty of the Irish Coast Guard, it is expected that the steel-hulled trawler will be partially lifted and brought into shallower waters, before being brought to the surface later today for a preliminary inspection by Garda divers.
The Pere Charlessank on January 10th this year as she was returning to Dunmore East with the loss of five crew members: skipper Tom Hennessy (32), his uncle Pat Hennessy (48), Billy O'Connor (50), Pat Coady (27), and Andriy Dyrin (32) from the Ukraine.
No bodies were recovered from the Pere Charles, despite a search of the vessel by Naval Service divers, and the families of the missing fishermen began a campaign to have the boat - which is owned by Michael Walsh of Co Wexford - raised to see if any bodies were on board.
Yesterday the families maintained a dignified vigil at Dunmore East harbour, watching the crane barge head out to the site of the sinking, having come in for a refitting following the recovery of another sunken trawler, the Maggie Bon Monday.
Tom Hennessy's partner, Louise Doyle, spoke of what recovering the Pere Charleswould mean for her and the couple's two young children, Christine (5) and Jane (4), and how difficult it had been for them not to have recovered her partner's remains.
"The year has gone by in a daze but we're just glad that we're finally getting somewhere and I just hope that everything goes according to plan and the boat comes up in one piece and, hopefully. the bodies are still on board," said Ms Doyle.
"If there's a little hope at all, you have to cling to it and if there's nobody on the boat, then at least we know we have done everything we possibly could - [otherwise] we would always be wondering are they out on the boat.
"At least then we'll know they are lost at sea and we might be able to start getting on with our lives again . . . without a body it's very hard to accept what's happened . . . not having anywhere to go to talk to Tom - I know we've the memorial wall here, but it's not the same."