Super yacht sinking - did the crew bravely survive or did they abandon their the passengers

[mids2019]

So....most of the crew survived this tragedy but the passengers died. Do you think it will emerge the crew should have e done more to alrt the passengers and indeed put their lives in danger to attempt a rescue? Maybe it was all just too fast?

I just think there seems silence from the crew at moment despite being survivors of a sinking vessel who have a story to tell. Are lawyers advising they stay quiet on this?

I think the majority of us will luckily never see ourselves in this position. Car accidents happen every day and we don't usually pick over what happened (unless it's happened very close to home or to someone we love) Last night I watched a documentary about a very scary (yet unusual) BA flight (also very fast moving in reality but probably felt a lot longer for those involved) which has left people scarred for life. I've noticed the Below Deck Sailing Yacht episodes are not available ( the boat was built by the same company) there will always be an element of damage limitation when money and reputation is involved when things go wrong though. The Titanic, the Herald of Free Enterprise and other boat disasters are all different situations, but the resulting loss of life and the blame game is always forensically poured over. Like a car accident it was a combination of things that lead to loss of life ( that will come to all of us eventually for certain) worrying won't change this

I think a person would only know if they would rescue someone when they are in the situation where someone needs rescued. It’s not something you can decide to do or not from your chair in front of the tv.

Totally agree, and I think it can work both ways- people are both more and less heroic than they might imagine.

I doubt it was something that could be thought through when it was happening

Too fast, chaotic, dangerous and how exactly? You couldn't go down to the cabins and make it back up

This is not true, you're supposed to help others if you can but not if it puts your own life at risk.

The Italian guy who did a press conference said some things did need to raised because they brought a risk to wildlife. Fuel tanks or something similar I think he said.

He said raising the boat from the ocean bed wouldn't be immediate.

But yes - I'm another who wouldn't want anyone risking their own life to raise my body if I was dead. But I guess that's easy to say.

Thanks for posting this.

It's obviously just different people (even very knowledgeable, experienced people).giving opinions at this point, but if that engineer is correct - that the keel being raised when the yacht was not sailing - is a major factor in the yacht not being able to stay upright in those conditions (that's nearly 50% of the keel length gone) - then there is going to be a lot of focus on whether the designer/manufacturer did or didnt specify the keel should be dropped in severe conditions (even when anchored/not sailing).

If they didn't specify that, the crew couldn't really be held liable, could they? Since (though experienced) they were fairly dependant on the operating instructions, for lack of a better word, from the manufacturer for that particular yacht, which was exceptional in terms of its mast height & rig.

Maybe the manufacturer will argue that the weather conditions were freak, and the yacht shouldn't have needed the keel lowered even during bad conditions, therefore they didn't specify that.

This is a tragedy that's going to have years of court time.

Yes, the fuel tanks need to be removed before the wreck is raised - possibly for pollution reasons if they are underwater too long and possibly for risk of damage and leaks if they were moved with the wreck.

If it were my child or husband or parents, I think I'd want their bodies recovered.
So I could have some closure I guess.

The bodies are evidence in the investigation also, so it wouldn’t just be up to the families.

I’m sure I read that Mike Lynch and his wife were woken from their cabin and started making their way up. His wife, Angela, has badly injured feet from walking on broken glass to get out. I wonder how she managed to get off the boat without him? I guess he stayed below deck to find their daughter.

(that's nearly 50% of the keel length gone)

Actually, correction; it's 60% gone - I haven't rewatched the video but that's the case if he said a raised/retracted keel length of 4 m v's 10 m).

Yeah I was wondering about that. Yes maybe he told her to go ahead and save herself while he went looking for the daughter

It will be related to where they were in the boat. Crew were more likely to be on deck checking the boat, seeing if the mooring was holding etc.. passengers were more likely to be in lower cabins. The chef was also probably getting some rest in the lower cabins as well as it was the early hours when it sank.

I expect the passengers who survived came up to the deck as they were spooked by the storm.

I expect the passengers who survived came up to the deck as they were spooked by the storm.

I presume the spooked passengers would not be actually on deck because there was driving rain and wind. They would be in the sheltered lounge area where I believe there is a large set of glass sliding doors leading out to the deck. Maybe the doors shattered in the violent heeling of the yacht and that was the broken glass that Mrs Lynch walked over to get to safety just before the boat sank.

Bodies of 5 of the guests were found in one cabin of the ship. I wonder whether Mike Lynch started to get them out of their cabins and they all went together to the highest part of the ship as water started flooding in as the boat violently listed 90 degrees. That is why they were found in one cabin. All except his daughter Hannah. It is so very sad.

Exactly. And I don't think their passengers, rich or not, deserve accusations of of fault either.

On this thread I've seen: they're rich and they demanded the hatch be left open as it was hot that night (the super yacht was airconditioned). I've seen: The crew probably told them what to do, but they're rich and they ignored them...

Clearly, from what other experienced large yacht sailors have said, mistakes were made, though.

I thinknthe crew and captain of a a cruise ship is entirely different to the crew on a luxury yacht. On the yacht, the passengers aren't the customers, but the employers. I'd expect the boss to stay until the crew (staff) were all safe tbh, but in this case, it sounds like it was because those who died were below deck when the boat flooded and everything happened quickly.

It is very tragic and sad. I cannot imagine the utter terror and horror for those who didn’t escape and survive.

The fact that five got to the same cabin in an attempt to find air pockets before suffering the most horrific deaths and the daughter alone in another cabin is beyond imagination. Their last minutes must have been truly horrific.

Wealth, luxury etc are meaningless when fateful occurrences occur.

It must also be excruciatingly difficult for those that survived knowing of the fate of those that died in these dreadful circumstances.

Agree, @friendlycat

It doesn't bear thinking of. I wonder if the final instinct is to battle others for that last breath of air pocket.

If I were a survivor I'd be on diazepam for the rest of my life.

If I were a poorly paid server on a sinking yacht, I’d run like hell for my life and not look back.

Even the most basic of sailors would know you would want the keel down in those conditions. It's pretty much the equivalent of knowing your ABCs.

But if the wind came rapidly and it took a while to lower the keel, that could have been the issue

The mast is in tact and there is no obvious damage to the hull. Sails were obviously down as she was at anchor. The boat was designed to tip almost horizontal and right itself. It has made many Atlantic crossings.

Likely contributing factors may be the access hatch left open and/ or retractible keel not lowered. The lifeboat will have launched automatically once at a certain level of submersion. Those on deck were thrown into the sea and miraculously managed to board the liferaft. Dragging anchor would have set off alarms. At that point all passengers should have been roused and brought on deck with life jackets, anchor released, engine started and boat repositioned into the wind.

The downwind was unpredictable but the storm itself was predicted many hours earlier. There are calm coves in the area where he ship could have sheltered rather than in that exposed and notoriously treacherous area near Porticello.

It seems likely it was the result of an improbable series of events/ compounding factors, and the name of the boat itself - given the circumstances - seems an particularly cruel twist of fate. Those poor families who have lost loved ones so tragically.

Always follow the money.

Who insured the boat?
Were the occupants insured?
Who inherits the billions?

How do you reposition into the wind during a Tornado??? & do we even know there were any warnings such as the anchor dragging etc etc? all conjecture.

As one sailing expert said, given the storm warnings, the boat should have been tied up alongside as it had so many inexperienced passengers on board.

But this is all with the benefit of hindsight, i doubt anyone on board expected to be hit by such a storm/tornado, it maybe they did everything correctly but the weather was just too powerful for the boat design.

We'll find out soon enough.

“Those on deck were thrown into the sea and miraculously managed to board the liferaft.”

Have you seen this reported from interviews with the survivors, or are you speculating? If the latter, please caveat with “I wonder if…”

AFAIK, the only survivors definitely rescued from the water (by people already in the life raft ) are the mother and baby.