Vessels attempt to tow stricken boat off rocks
ATTEMPTS were being made to remove a small motorboat from rock armour outside the QEII Marina yesterday and there were hopes that it might be refloated last night.
The vessel got stuck on rocks to the north of the East Arm just after 11pm on Saturday night.
There were two crew onboard the vessel at the time. Neither were injured and there was no pollution.
Rescuers were on scene early yesterday morning, ready for the next high tide – a 9.4m tide just after 10am.
Young men climbed out on the rocks and attempted to rock the boat, to see if it would move.
A vessel – the Horror – was attached to the boat by lines, but was unable to pull it off the rocks. A fishing boat – Amber Dawn – also tried to assist.
At one stage the men tried to use large buoys to try to help get the vessel off the rocks, but this did not seem to work.
Both boats worked hard, but the attempt was abandoned about half an hour after the high tide.
A large crowd of all ages gathered at Salerie Corner to watch the attempts to refloat the boat and they could hear the scraping on the hull as the men tried to get it off the rocks.
It is understood the propeller was trapped in the rocks, which prevented the refloating yesterday morning.
But in the afternoon the gear box was removed and attempts were due to be made to shift the vessel again last night.
The harbour’s work boat – the Sarnia – is currently undergoing maintenance work in the UK so was unavailable to help. The vessel is expected back on Tuesday.
The tides are currently going from springs to neaps, which threatened to make further attempts to refloat it more difficult.
Saturday night’s high tide was 9.8m at about 10pm. But last night’s high tide was 9.1m and the tides are set to get smaller as the week goes on.
The Coastguard has confirmed that an investigation into the accident is ongoing.
