Debris an eerie reminder of tragic lives lost at sea

WELLINGTON boots, fish boxes, mineral bottles, a lantern, ropes, part of a hand-painted nameplate — just some of the debris which has been found by the dozens of volunteers who have been searching the south-eastern coastline for nearly a week, and which is presumed to have come from the stricken Kinsale-based trawler, the Honeydew II.

Dunmore East is the co-ordination centre for the recovery operations for both the Honeydew II and the Pere Charles, both of which sank last Thursday evening with the loss of seven fishermen. Any wreckage located since then has been found along a stretch of coast between Carnsore Point and Hook Head, washed from the south-west by the sea and discovered by one of the Coastguard or lifeboat teams that have been volunteering to take part in the searches. Yesterday morning alone, 132 people turned up at the Coastguard station in Dunmore to take part in shoreline searches.

The debris — including at least 24 fish boxes, with the name Union Hall, a fishing village near Kinsale, emblazoned on them — has been placed in the storage area in the station, which serves as an eerie reminder of the tragic fate of the Honeydew II, along with its skipper Ger Bohan and Tomasz Jagla.

“It’s all coming in east of the Hook,” said Dunmore East coastguard co-ordinator Jim Griffin yesterday.

Yesterday again began with hope for the families of the Pere Charles fishermen that the remains of their beloved would be found and returned to shore. However, although calm conditions prevailed from daybreak, word later came back that poor visibility and nets around the Pere Charles were preventing the divers from getting into the vessel.

Families were visited yesterday by Deputy Paul Kehoe, who knew the Pere Charles owner, Michael Walsh, while the Mayor of County Waterford, Cllr Mary Greene, also visited Dunmore East yesterday.