Salvage operation awaits crane barge
Efforts to salvage the Pere Charles and Maggie B have so far been hampered by bad weather and delays in the arrival of vital equipment.
Pere Charles skipper Tom Hennessy, 32, uncle Pat Hennessy, 48, Billy O’Connor, 50, Pat Coady, 27, and Andriy Dyrin, 32, have not been recovered since the vessel sank 4km off Hook Head on January 10.
Meanwhile, the remains of Glynn Cott, 30, from Ballycotton in Co Cork and Polish crewman Jan Sankowski, 45, have not been recovered from the Maggie B after it floundered around 8km south off Hook Head in March 2006.
A salvage operation was initiated more than two weeks ago to establish if the bodies are still on-board the vessels. The cost of raising the vessels has been estimated at around €1 million.
Salvagers Irish Diving Contractors have been appointed by the Government to “deliver the vessels upright either alongside or on” the quay wall in Arklow harbour for the boats to be examined by Department of Transport surveyors.
Slings have been placed around both trawlers, and the Maggie B will be lifted with a crane barge once it arrives from Rotterdam. But the Pere Charles, lying on its roof on the seabed, needs to be “rolled over” prior to lifting, it emerged.
Irish Coastguard Co-coordinator of the salvage, Mick McGarry, yesterday said: “The crane barge is gone into the yard to be re-rigged.”
Longer cables would have to be fitted to the barge in order to lift the Pere Charles, at 35m below the surface, while the Maggie B lies at a depth of 47m.
“The crane barge is due to leave Rotterdam next week and I was told it would arrive in Irish waters next Wednesday or Thursday.
“It depends on that and on the weather,” added Mr McGarry.
The crane barge should not operate in a swell greater than 1m, according to Mr McGarry.
