French Registered Trawler ends up on rocks off Bere Island

'Elsinor' on the rocks - pictured at low tide - L.E. Eithne in the background.

On Friday night last, the French Registered Trawler, with 11 crew - mainly Spanish - left the Port of Castletownbere to commence another fishing trip - having offloaded her previous catch earlier the same day.  On her way out, the vessel failed to come off the leading lights that guided her out of the port to pick up with the lights to direct her out the harbour's mouth and into the open sea.  The result is that the vessel ended up on the rocks at 'File na Bó' (excuse the spelling).  Weather conditions at the time were fair to good with a north-westerly breeze.  The crew abandoned the boat to their liferaft.  The Castletownbere Lifeboat were alerted at 1.20 and when they were on their way out to the vessel, they were informed by Derry O'Donovan, the Spanish Agent for the boat, who was already at the scene, that all crew were picked up by him in the MV 'Ouvane'.

On Saturday, the Shannon-based rescue helicopter visited the scene to inspect it for possible pollution - caused by the spilling out of oil from the boat.  The Coastguard personnel were also on stand-by.  The Naval vessel L.E. Eithne also visited the area but left early on Sunday morning.  The possibility of the vessel being able to come off the rocks on her own steam at high tide was also looked into - but looked very doubtful.

On Monday, a salvage tugboat from Baltimore inspected the scene and following all the diesel and water being pumped off her into containers, she will attempt to get her off the rocks on Tue. at high tide.

Thankfully, there are no loss of life and the damage to the environment is practically nil.  All is left now is to hope that the tug will be successful in removing her from the rocks and from the landscape.  It is very visible from the historic Dunboy Castle grounds and if left there will eventually become an eyesore.  The owner of the vessel is currently in Castletownbere and is overseeing the operation along with the Spanish Agent and his crew.  Lets hope a satisfactory outcome is had for all.

Elsinor at High Tide