Some terrible news from the Bay of Biscay: Ireland's national sail training yacht, the Asgard II, has sunk after developing a leak in early hours of 11th September 2008. All the crew have been rescued to safety. She floundered for some time, fuelling hopes that she could be saved, but finally sank mid-morning. Asgard II is now 80-odd metres underwater - the depth will make any recovery extremely difficult.
"A total of twenty trainee sailors and five crew members were on a ten-day trip from Falmouth, in Cornwall, to the French port of La Rochelle when their traditionally-rigged ship started taking on water. Crew were evacuated by lifeboat and picked up by a French coastguard vessel. They were taken to Belle Ile, a small island in the Bay of Biscay. All are said to be safe and well. The ship had been due to arrive in La Rochelle on Saturday, and was approximately 100 miles away when it sank."
The Irish Defence Department will be investigating why the ship started to take on water. A collision seems the most likely cause, but spokesman Willie O'Dea said: "I discussed this with the Captain and the truth of the matter is nobody knows yet. Presumably they would have felt it. On the other hand, the Captain said to me that the amount of water that came in and the speed at which the water accumulated indicated something like that, but we just cannot be sure at the moment."
Despite the notorious reputation of the Bay of Biscay, conditions were fairly moderate.
Click here for the Irish Times article on the sinking.
I wrote about Asgard in the Aug/Sep 04 issue of TB&TS, in an article called 'The Luck of the Irish'. It seems that luck has run out. We are all so relieved that there were no casualties. But spare a thought for the wonderful permanent crew, who have lost their home. And for all us trainees and watch leaders, graduates of the Asgard experience, now in shock and mourning.
I salute a brave ship and a brave crew.
Posted by: Geoff Saunders | September 12, 2008 at 03:22 PM