Precautions could have avoided boat tragedies — report

Two separate boating tragedies that claimed the lives of three men on a single day last August could have been avoided if proper precautions had been taken.

The director of the Irish Coast Guard, Chris Reynolds, was commenting on Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) findings into the drownings on Aug 13 last year.

Michael Galvin, 64, and Noel Dickinson, 35, drowned after their boat the Lady Eileen sunk quickly a short distance from the shoreline near Spanish Point in Co Clare.

Later that evening, poet and teacher, John O’Leary, 58, drowned off Allihies in West Cork while he tried to swim to shore with his son from their upturned Enterprise dinghy.

The dinghy had upturned following a gust of wind, and the two — who were wearing lifejackets — remained on the hull for around three hours before deciding to swim ashore.

The report said the two swam together for 30 minutes, and in the last 200m John encouraged his son, Christy, to swim on and raise the alarm.

Christy reached the shore at 9.30pm and the alarm was raised at 9.32pm However, it was not until 1.25am that the search helicopter spotted John O’Leary’s body in the water.

The report concluded: “Before departure, John O’Leary did not agree a return time or sailing area with a responsible person ashore. If he had done this, the rescue might have occurred before they dec-ided to enter the water.”

The report also found that the dinghy “had insufficient buoyancy bags and as a result, it did not have passive buoyancy to be bailed out after a capsize”.

In a letter to the MCIB Mr Reynolds said: “All boat skippers should tell a responsible person ashore — in effect an emergency contact — where their craft is going, when its leaving, from what port or slip, time due back and where, who is onboard… it’s name/call sign and most importantly what action to take when this estimated time of arrival passes.”

The MCIB report into the deaths of Mr Galvin and Mr Dickinson found that they were not wearing lifejackets when their bodies were recovered.

The two had left Quilty harbour in west Clare at 7am on Aug 13 on a fishing trip and the report found that the evidence “would suggest that the incident happened very quickly and that neither Mr Galvin nor Mr Dickinson had any time to react to the situation and access the emergency equipment”.

The report’s conclusions found that it is probable that the Lady Eileen encountered wind or wave action or a combination of both that caused the vessel to be swamped.