Suspicious Yacht Death

[webcraft]

28-year-old Alan MacLean died on the yacht Correlation skippered by a Frenchman. Phillippe Sorel, on 11th September 1999. M. Sorel reported Alan as having been shot by pirates off the coast of Somalia, but the dead man's family - who live in Aberdeen - have repeatedly questioned the story.

Sorel said Mr MacLean had been killed by pirates after trying to defend himself with a didgeridoo. He buried Mr MacLean at sea 'because of the intense heat'.

Authorities in Yemen called off a murder investigation into Mr MacLean's death and the case was handed over to the French police, who have jurisdiction over both the boat and its captain. The UN also began investigating Alan's death after it emerged that e-mails sent by Alan said be feared for his life. Sorel has never been charged in connection with the death, but interim report by French authorities suggests they are suspicious of Sorel's account, which is allegedly contradicted by a ballistics report.

The conclusion of the report by the Tribunal de Grande Instance suggests that Alan's parents should pursue their investigations further. However, the French judge appointed to oversee the case apparently will not communicate directly with them and the couple cannot afford the services of a solicitor.

A trust fund for legal costs has been set up, and anyone wanting to contribute can PM me for details.

You can read more about the incident at the following URLs:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_453000/453328.stm

http://www.dockwalk.com/issues/1999/october/britain1.shtml

- Nick

BlueMoment.Com
http://www.bluemoment.com

 

[david_e]

This sounds rather tragic for the family, how much do they need to raise initially?

 

[webcraft]

I don't know how much they need initially - am waiting for the Aberdeen solicitor who is administering the trust fund to get back to me to find out more.

- Nick

BlueMoment.Com
http://www.bluemoment.com

 

[webcraft]

Good grief, now I'm replying to my own post.

Well, it's interesting to see how little comment this caused. Bill Tilman had more hassle after losing a man overboard in the S.Atlantic during a night watch and spending 48 hours looking for him. The Brazilian authorities gave him a really hard time.

Remember YM's 'urban legends' last month - the one about the girl who lost her third skipper on an Atlantic crossing?

The loss of a crew member is something that is always a possibility . . . and anyone who has done anything other than weekend daysailing must surely be aware of the potential for tension in the confined space of a cruising yacht.

But - no comments at all.

Maybe this forum is getting a little trivial.

- Nick

BlueMoment.Com
http://www.bluemoment.com

 

[tome]

Nick

Read this with interest, and followed the links to read the story. It's a bit bizarre to say the least - I'd be interested to read the text of the emails Alan sent prior to his suspicious death.

It seems strange that with intervention from Robin Cook the French haven't fully investigated this incident, and even stranger that his family are having to raise funds to pursue the enquiry.

Perhaps the reason you haven't had many replies is that you were going to investigate the cost of the initial fund and people were awaiting this before commenting further?

Good luck with this, it must be hell for his family

TomE

 

[poter]

Nick
I don't think this is a trivial subject for the Forum. It is exactly theses types of incident and the one that you refer to in the YM, that gets us all thinking about the other side of cruising and IMHO too many of us trivialise this aspect of sailing. It is a subject that tends to get lost in the enthusiasm for the technical side of sailing.
I would be devastated if my son was involved in an incident that you describe and one can only sympathise with the family. I hope & trust that the authorities arrive at a satisfactory conclusion sooner rather than later.

Poter.

 

[lezgar]

There was a TV program about this dead last year. Do you see it? I think that continue with solicitors in international process only will bring more pain to the family in a case that never end