The alarm was raised at about noon when the vessel Wild Wave was recovering pots west of Sark and had sunk in the process.
While the St Peter Port inshore lifeboat was launched to recover the owner of the boat, the only person on board, a dive boat was not far away and was already equipped with all that was needed to start recovery.
Skippered by Denis McKane, the boat, with divers JP Fallaize, Mat Le Maitre and Richard Keen on board, was on the scene soon after.
‘The bow was sticking out of the water,’ said Mr Keen, who said that they attached several large fishing floats to the vessel to stop it sinking further.
‘I’d salvaged the same boat once before off the west coast of Guernsey and it floats fairly well.’
Once the floats were attached, the dive boat towed the still-submerged Wild Wave six miles back to Guernsey.
‘It took two-and-a-half hours and we put it on my mooring at the Fish Quay,’ said Mr Keen.
The harbour work launch Sarnia has lifted the vessel to the surface.
Mr Keen said the accident seemed to have been caused by the boat being snagged on something as the fisherman tried to recover a pot, leading to it being pulled under.
The man was picked up by the inshore lifeboat and taken back to St Peter Port where he was checked over by waiting paramedics and was found not to have suffered any significant injuries.
It was fortunate that the incident happened on the calmest day of the month and on the slowest tide.
While the engine might be salvageable, Mr Keen said he believed a lot of equipment would still need to be replaced.
Guernsey Coastguard said that because the incident involved a commercial fishing boat, a maritime safety investigation has been ordered by the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents ‘to identify the cause of the accident and to prevent recurrence’.
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