webcraft
Well-Known Member
Friday 17th November
31deg 10'.01 N
16deg 27'.86W
100 miles South of Madeira, 85 miles from Islas Selvagem, 180 miles from Santa Cruz de Tenerife
At about three o' clock in the afternoon Kathy spotted what she thought was a small fishing boat - the first vessel we had seen all day. Looking through the binoculars it appeared to be a yacht with no mast, so we turned to investigate. It was indeed a drifting, dismasted yacht. There was a small sail hanging over the bow, the stern fittings looked a bit mangled and it was pretty obvious that she had been rolled and lost her mast. The washboards were out and the hatch open, but no sign of anyone on board. We circled round as close as practical - there was still a three metre swell running (which as usual is not apparent in the photograph). The name was clearly visible, but the SSR number was hidden by two large fenders hanging over the port quarter, and it was only on the third or fourth time around that they rolled out of the way enough for us to get the number.
We sounded the foghorn a few times to rouse anyone who might be on board, then phoned Falmouth MRCC on the Satphone. We also phoned Quinta de Lorde marina, our point of departure, and asked the manageress to get in touch with the Madeiran authorities as we had been unable to reach the number given in the pilot. Tryng to put a crew member on board was a last option in those seas, only to be considered if it was a recent disaster and there might be crew on board.
The yacht was the Hercules, SSR41232. Falmouth phoned us back to let us know that she had been successfully abandoned by her crew after the dismasting six weeks previously. I phoned Katya back and she told us that the Portuguese authorities had confirmed the yacht as abandoned and that she was ours if we wanted her. It was so tempting . . . but we could see no way to board her safely in the prevailing swell conditions without risking serious damage to Fairwinds, so reluctantly we put aside any thoughts of salvage and left the eerie vessel to continue drifting. The fact that she was still afloat after six weeks with the washboards out was remarkable, but somewhat worrying - a close encounter at night would not be good. Discussion as to whether or not we should have attempted salvage continued into the night, but I think we did the right thing. Had she been a more valuable prize we might have risked it, but 180 miles is a long tow with a small yacht in big seas. Altogether a remarkable and spooky oceanic encounter.
Does anyone know the story of what happened and why the yacht was abandoned?
- Nick
31deg 10'.01 N
16deg 27'.86W
100 miles South of Madeira, 85 miles from Islas Selvagem, 180 miles from Santa Cruz de Tenerife
At about three o' clock in the afternoon Kathy spotted what she thought was a small fishing boat - the first vessel we had seen all day. Looking through the binoculars it appeared to be a yacht with no mast, so we turned to investigate. It was indeed a drifting, dismasted yacht. There was a small sail hanging over the bow, the stern fittings looked a bit mangled and it was pretty obvious that she had been rolled and lost her mast. The washboards were out and the hatch open, but no sign of anyone on board. We circled round as close as practical - there was still a three metre swell running (which as usual is not apparent in the photograph). The name was clearly visible, but the SSR number was hidden by two large fenders hanging over the port quarter, and it was only on the third or fourth time around that they rolled out of the way enough for us to get the number.
We sounded the foghorn a few times to rouse anyone who might be on board, then phoned Falmouth MRCC on the Satphone. We also phoned Quinta de Lorde marina, our point of departure, and asked the manageress to get in touch with the Madeiran authorities as we had been unable to reach the number given in the pilot. Tryng to put a crew member on board was a last option in those seas, only to be considered if it was a recent disaster and there might be crew on board.
The yacht was the Hercules, SSR41232. Falmouth phoned us back to let us know that she had been successfully abandoned by her crew after the dismasting six weeks previously. I phoned Katya back and she told us that the Portuguese authorities had confirmed the yacht as abandoned and that she was ours if we wanted her. It was so tempting . . . but we could see no way to board her safely in the prevailing swell conditions without risking serious damage to Fairwinds, so reluctantly we put aside any thoughts of salvage and left the eerie vessel to continue drifting. The fact that she was still afloat after six weeks with the washboards out was remarkable, but somewhat worrying - a close encounter at night would not be good. Discussion as to whether or not we should have attempted salvage continued into the night, but I think we did the right thing. Had she been a more valuable prize we might have risked it, but 180 miles is a long tow with a small yacht in big seas. Altogether a remarkable and spooky oceanic encounter.
Does anyone know the story of what happened and why the yacht was abandoned?
- Nick
