Salvage of the Co Wexford lobster boat Rising Sun was continuing off the Saltee Islands late last night after a setback delayed the lifting operation earlier yesterday.
Wexford salvage company Tuskar Rock Marine is working with the Irish Lights vessel Granuaile and the Coast Guard to raise the boat from a seabed depth of 52 metres over nine kilometres offshore.
The salvage team had hoped to lift the boat early yesterday, but one of the slings attached to the hull by divers is understood to have come loose. The Granuaile, which is under the command of Capt Dermot Gray, has anchored in a three-point mooring over the wreck, and a spreader was lowered to keep the slings from damaging the waterlogged hull.
Three lives were lost after the boat sank on November 29th, one a diver in the search for the missing skipper, and the salvage was ordered by Minister of State for the Marine Pat "the Cope" Gallagher at the request of the family of the skipper, Pat Colfer.
"It is a very difficult and slow operation, because of the water depth, and the fact that the divers can only stay down for so long and must decompress periodically," Capt Kieran O'Higgins of the Commissioners of Irish Lights explained.
"Once the vessel reaches the surface, water must be pumped out before it can be transferred to the ship's deck. The hull will then be searched, and equipment, including the remotely operated vehicle for monitoring seabed operations, has to be recovered before the ship can leave the area."
The missing skipper's family is hoping the hatch to the engine room will be examined when the vessel is on deck, as this area was not searched by Naval Service divers last year.
The wreck will be transferred by the Granuaile to Rosslare harbour for further examination by Coast Guard officials and the Marine Casualty Investigation Board. Under the salvage contract, a report on the condition and securing arrangements of the emergency radio beacon and life raft must be prepared.
A delay in picking up a signal from the beacon, and the failure to deploy the life raft, are key subjects for the official investigation into the sinking.