Cabin Fever report shows breaches of regulations

AN investigation into the grounding on Tory Island of the wooden schooner used in the RTÉ reality game show, Cabin Fever, found clear breaches of marine regulations.

Contestants suffered from fatigue during watch keeping duties off the Donegal coast while the command structure on board was not clear to the crew, a marine casualty report suggested.

In one particular breach, one of the male contestants was allowed to remain on board to retrieve personal belongings which led to him being dragged under water as he later attempted to swim ashore.

Some time prior to the boat going on the rocks, one of the contestants warned the owner, Rodger Barton, they were “on a collision course” with a lighthouse.

The report also suggested the 1947-built 80ft sailing boat, officially registered in Britain as Carrie of Camaret, should not have left Rathlin Island for Tory in bad weather, because it was only allowed operate in favourable conditions.

The report, conducted by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, made a number of recommendations relating to increased safety measures for passenger vessels. Legal representatives of some of the contestants are understood to be studying the report with a view to possible civil actions for damages.

The nine contestants and two experienced crew on board, boatowner Rodger Barton and the appointed skipper Peter Culleton, were all rescued, some by helicopter.

The report found that the global positioning system (GPS), which could have helped investigators establish with a greater deal of accuracy the events leading up to the grounding, had been removed from the wooden boat by its owner and was “lost ashore” during the rescue.

The report said a basic two-day training course, including personal survival techniques, carried out by the contestants before their departure had “served its purpose” in ensuring the crew stayed calm during the emergency.

The crew were thrown around quite vigorously after the vessel was pounded onto the rocks by a huge sea swell.

A small craft warning had also been issued at the time by Met Éireann.

The report found that the immediate causes of the grounding were:

No effective watchkeeping by the experienced crew and no clear requirement for at least one of the experienced crew to be on deck duty.

An adjustment to the steering, to change the course, had not been monitored.

Fatigue had more than likely developed among the experienced crew and contestants.

The investigators found that with the schooner short one experienced crew member, the filming of the TV show put an additional workload on the two remaining experienced crew.

Fatigue on board was also exacerbated, the report said, after a “late night out” by the contestants and crew after a heavy weather passage from Rathlin Island followed by an early morning start to Tory Island on June 13, 2003.

Producers of the show, COCO Television, commissioned by RTÉ for the Cabin Fever series, had chartered the vessel. The company, in a submission to the MCIB, disputed claims about fatigue and said the “late night out” consisted of a substantial meal, with two glasses of wine per person.

Earlier that week, the boat’s mate Warren Gunner, who had started out from Dublin on the planned round-Ireland voyage, had departed the vessel. His replacement was not due to join the boat until the following Sunday.