Sunken ‘Bayesian’ superyacht arrives on dry land

A multi-day operation achieved the raising, which was livestreamed. The HEBO Lift 10 83m crane and purpose-built lifting gear comprised eight main steel slings that were drawn beneath the hull using messenger lines over several weeks by ROVs.

The 56m yacht’s 72-metre mast, one of the tallest in the world, is still on the seabed but will be recovered in the coming days. It was removed from the body of the yacht by divers using remote cutting tools.

Specialised underwater drones were also used to survey the vessel for fuel leaks, none of which has been detected.

As well as Hebo Maritiemservice providing heavy-lift capability, Boskalis subsidiary Smit Salvage has played a major role in the operation, which was overseen by UK-based consultancy TMC Marine.

Junction Communications, which has coordinated information for press and media on behalf of TMC Marine, said the recovery mission was one of the most complex yacht salvage operations ever undertaken in recent European maritime history.

Investigation

A Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) interim report reveals how the night before the disaster, a decision was made to motor the Bayesian to anchor for the night to shelter from forecast storms and allow easy disembarkation the following day.

The centreboard, or swing keel, was in the raised position, it says, and another yacht, Sir Robert Baden Powell, was anchored nearby.

Guests went to bed in calm seas, anchored 0.5 nautical miles off Porticello, Sicily – and were woken at around 4am, when a deckhand noted winds of 30 knots and believed Bayesian was dragging anchor.

Over the next few minutes guests and crew woke up and as the skipper attempted to manoeuvre the boat, the wind ’suddenly increased to 70 knots’, says the report, and Bayesian ’violently heeled over to 90^o starboard, taking less than 15 seconds to do so’.

”People, furniture, and loose items fell across the deck. The generators shut down immediately and battery-supplied emergency lighting came on,” it says. 

Some were injured, some attempted to get out, some were thrown into the sea, and soon water began to enter and in less than an hour the vessel had sunk. Survivors managed to get on a liferaft and were saved.

The full MAIB interim report and detailed account of the capsize is here.

Bayesian will now be thoroughly examined to ascertain the exact cause of the sinking, which caused the deaths of seven people, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah, onboard chef Recaldo Thomas, Christopher and Neda Morvillo, Morgan Stanley chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife, Judy.

Fifteen people, including a baby, survived. The mast is expected to be recovered this week.