Mayday call confusion led to rescue delay 11/1/14
The rescue of the crew from a sinking fishing boat off Harris was delayed by 45 minutes
due to an incomplete Mayday radio call, an investigation report has found.
Fisherman Norman Macleod of Vatisker, Lewis, died of hypothermia when the MFV Achieve
foundered some six miles north west off Tarnasay around 3pm on 21 February last year.
The 46-year-old was in the water for about 20 minutes after jumping overboard as
the Stornoway registered creel vessel rapidly sank below him.
A Marine Accident Investigation Branch investigation concluded the boat took on water
after experiencing a heavy slam in seas of Gasker which dislodged or sprung one of
the wooden planks on her hull - at her after fish hold - under the waterline. The
bulkhead wall between the machinery space and fish hold was not watertight because
of several openings for shaft, pipelines and cables.
The boat had a fish hold bilge alarm - even though it was not legally required to
have one - which should be triggered by any rising water level in the space. However,
it had been previously decommissioned after some false alarms.
The bilge pump was set to operate in automatic mode but there were no running lights
or alarms to indicate that the pump was working so the crew was not alerted to the
flooding.
Unaware of anything wrong, the boat steamed towards Leverburgh. But her after end
was going deeper into the water. 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,” said the report.
The investigation report said: “The skipper called Stornoway coastguard on VHF radio
and made a Mayday call.
“The call lasted eight seconds during which the skipper gave the name of his vessel
once, but he did not state the vessel’s position.”
The report said the 30-year-old skipper did not activate the push-button distress
alarm on the VHF’s digital selective calling (DSC) system - which would have automatically
conveyed the vessel’s position - nor set off the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s
MOB Guardian man overboard system.
The coastguard watch operator misheard the vessel’s name as Accord.
“Although the skipper realised that the coastguard had identified his vessel incorrectly,
he concluded that he had no time to correct them as the vessel was sinking very rapidly,”
said the MAIB.
“He also [mistakenly] thought that when the MOB Guardian base unit lost its connection
with the shore station, it would automatically transmit a distress message with the
vessel’s name and position.”
The three crew donned lifejackets and abandoned the boat. Two made it into the inflated
liferaft and, hampered by the wind, paddled the 150 metres to Mr Macleod. He was
immersed in 8ºC sea water for approximately 20 minutes before being lifted onboard
the raft.
A watch manager at the coastguard station then listened to the Mayday call again
and realised that the vessel name sounded like Achieve.
Stornoway rescue helicopter lifted off seven minutes later with instructions to search
along the coast from the south of Stornoway to the Sound of Harris. Stornoway and
Leverburgh lifeboats were launched to carry out searches.
Mr Macleod was conscious, although shivering violently, when airlifted by the helicopter
to the Stornoway hospital.
He had a body temperature of 26.7ºC - ten degrees below the normal level– and suffered
a heart attack in hospital that night.
The investigation report said: “It is certain that the Achieve foundered due to the
flooding of its fish hold. There was no early warning of the flooding because the
bilge alarm in the fish hold was disconnected.”
It said “several layers of creels blocked the access to the hold,” thus the crew
could not check the space for flooding nor stem the incoming seawater.
The report added: “By the time the skipper started the emergency bilge pump, the
flooding in the compartment was so severe that the pump was unable to cope.”
Had the hold bilge alarm been functional, it should have alerted the crew almost
as soon as the flooding started. The crew could then have taken steps to prevent
further flooding, or at least raised a distress call much earlier
The report added: “The skipper should be congratulated for ensuring there was a serviced
and working liferaft on board as fishing vessels under 10m registered length were
not required to carry one.
“Further, his timely action in releasing the liferaft, kicking it clear when it was
about to be snagged in the mast, cutting it free as it was drawn towards the propeller
and helping one of his crewmen into the raft, were all commendable.
“His diligence and presence of mind might have saved his own life and that of his
crewman.”