Poor weather delays raising of Pere Charles

FAMILIES of the men lost aboard the Pere Charles last January have been forced to endure another anxious night after bad weather delayed the salvage operation to raise the trawler from the sea-bed.

However, progress was made yesterday evening as the salvage crew managed to get the boat into an upright position before readying it for lifting to the surface.

The Pere Charles was last night brought to a sheltered position close to Dunmore East, 15m deep, before being re-lowered to the sea-bed and reslung with hoisting equipment. It was expected to be brought to the surface late last night or this morning.

“It’s weather-dependent at this stage,” said Irish Coast Guard spokesman David McMyler last night.

Depending on the condition of the vessel, a search may be carried out some time today of the Pere Charles after it has been raised to the surface.

Family members are said to be hopeful that at least some of the bodies of the five fishermen are still within the trawler.

Hopes had been high on Tuesday that the boat would be brought to the surface sometime yesterday, allowing relatives of the five men who drowned when it sank to get a better idea about the possibility of the men’s bodies being on board.

However, squally winds and dangerous sea conditions forced the coastguard and the salvage company, Irish Diving Contractors Ltd, to call off diving operations at 3.30am yesterday.

The process of getting the 19m trawler into an upright position — from its near-upside-down state at the bottom of the sea, about 5km from Hook Head — was then postponed for the rest of the morning while the salvage crew waited for the weather to calm.

Divers returned to the sea just after midday yesterday and went into the water again at about 2pm to continue the project.

The herring boat has been lying in about 35m of water since it sank. The crane barge which has been brought from the Netherlands to raise the Pere Charles and, earlier this week, the Maggie B, were expected to drag it to shallower waters before attempting to bring it to the top.

As the possibility of the trawler being brought to the surface receded throughout yesterday, relatives of the lost men — skipper Tom Hennessy, his uncle Pat Hennessy, Billy O’Connor, Pat Coady, and Andriy Dyrin — stayed mostly away from the harbour in Dunmore East where they have been waiting all week for developments.

A brother of Tom Hennessy, Pat, described the wait as “very tough” and reminiscent of the 17 days the families spent waiting for news last January in the immediate aftermath of the sinking of the boat.

“A lot of the time we’re just sitting back and waiting for news bulletins,” he said. “There’s only one thing we want to see happening and that’s having the boat up.”

Mr Hennessy said that waiting around for developments was “very upsetting” for everybody involved.

Family members will be given the opportunity to go out to sea and see the trawler once it is brought to the surface, and they are hopeful it will happen some time today. He said the families were “very happy” with the job being done by the contractors.

“I couldn’t complain about anything. From the start, everyone has done their best with this thing. There’s been a lot of disputes and disagreements

I suppose along the way but at the end of the day it’s happening. That’s all we wanted. We’re glad they did it.”

The Hennessys are natives of Kerry and Pat Hennessy travelled to Dunmore East earlier in the week to observe the salvage operation, as did his father Tom and brothers Tony, Dan and John. His mother Julia and sister Joanna are also awaiting news.