Vital time was lost by an unclear Mayday message when a fishing boat rapidly sank off Harris, a fatal accident inquiry has heard.
Norman “Teddy” Macleod of Vatisker Park, Lewis, died in hospital after being immersed in cold sea water for up to 30 minutes when the MFV Achieve floundered on 21 February 2013.
With his lifejacket on, he was in the water for up to 30 minutes and then spent a further hour in wet clothes in a liferaft, the inquiry was told.
Mr Macleod was alive when airlifted by the helicopter to hospital in Stornoway but died a few hours later.
The inquiry heard the boat earlier experienced a heavy slam in seas off south west Harris. As the shellfish boat later steamed towards Leverburgh, Harris, her after end went deeper into the water.
The fish hold had an inoperative bilge or drain alarm while heavy crab creels on top of the hatch prevented a checking for flooding. The drain sensor was due to be renewed within weeks, the court heard.
Creels were shifted to try and balance the boat but the “vessel subsequently settled further down by the stern and the sea washed on to the deck,” highlighted a Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report.
The report praised the skipper for ensuring the boat had a working liferaft though not legally required to carry one.
The inquiry reconvened at Stornoway Sheriff Court on Friday to hear closing submissions into the tragedy.
Lawyer Clare Bone, representing the vessel’s skipper Donald Maclennan, said the crew suggested the boat sank within two to five minutes after the flooding was noticed.
Ms Bone said it “was not known when or how quickly the vessel flooded.”
If it happened slowly there should have been water in the engine room but Mr Maclennan saw no sign of the sea coming in when he checked below, she said.
Ms Bone highlighted there was no medical evidence to suggest Norman Macleod would have survived without the delay or if he had been wearing his personal safety alarm fob.
Neither was there evidence to say death would have been avoided if the vessel had
an emergency positioning radio beacon (EPRIB) -
Representing Mr Macleod’s partner, Karen Macdonald, lawyer Katy Begg said reasonable precautions could have avoided his death.
Ms Begg said the bilge alarm in the hold had been disconnected, thus did not sound when the water came in.
The press button digital selective calling radio device which would have transmitted an automatic Mayday alert and pinpointed their location was not used, she added.
The skipper and crew did not know how to operate the distress button on a similar RNLI supplied man overboard device. Nor were they wearing associated electronic personal alarm fobs.
An action suggested by Ms Begg was to carry an EPRIB, an emergency positioning radio beacon.
Though not a legal requirement for the Achieve, it would have sent an automatic distress signal plus the vessel’s position when submerged in the sea.
Procurator fiscal David Teale stressed the boat was in imminent danger and “every second counted.”
But “some 49 minutes were lost because of the unclear distress signal,” he said.
A working drain alarm would allowed the crew to tackle the flooding or organise an orderly evacuation so Mr Macleod would not have in the sea so long.
Skipper Donald Maclennan of Lewis did not have time to give the sinking boat’s position in an eight second Mayday voice radio call and the coastguard watch operator misheard the vessel’s name as Accord which delayed the rescue operation.
It was wrongly believed the accident occurred in the Minch between Stornoway and South Harris as the strength of the radio signal suggested that area.
However, the boat actually went down on the other side of Harris.
Sheriff David Sutherland was told many fishermen may be unclear over the correct use of the automatic digital DSC Mayday alert system and that refresher courses would be beneficial.
The sheriff said he would review the submissions, documentation and evidence and issue a written determination at a later date.
Inquiry into fisherman's death told of delay in rescue
19 June 2015