NO MINISTERIAL decision is anticipated before next month on the future of the sunken sail training ship, Asgard II, according to the Department of Defence.
A second subsea survey of the vessel, lying in 83m of water off the northwest French coast, was postponed this week due to bad weather.
However, the survey has been booked for early next week, and it is hoped a weather window in the Bay of Biscay will permit the inspection.
The remotely operated vehicle used for the inspection cannot work in any significant swell, the department has said.
The further delay has been defended by the department on the basis of “expert advice” that the vessel would survive a winter on the seabed in the notoriously turbulent Bay of Biscay.
It has attributed this advice to the vessel’s insurers, although it is understood the insurers approved a salvage after evidence from the first subsea survey in late September.
Once the second survey is complete, a report will have to be considered by Coiste an Asgard, the ship’s management committee, before forwarding a recommendation to Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea, the department has said.
The west Cork-based company which has been hired for both surveys has warned that fishing –specifically gill-netting – could pose a greater risk to the hull’s integrity than weather. Gill-netters are attracted to wrecks as a lucrative location for whitefish.
A marine notice has been issued through French maritime authorities, and fishing vessels are aware of the vessel’s presence, the department has said.
Earlier this month, the vessel’s master, Capt Colm Newport confirmed the vessel’s rigging was largely intact, and said a salvage partner had been identified after a “fairly lengthy” tendering process.
Capt Newport was responsible for the safe evacuation of 24 crew and trainees when the vessel began taking water in the early hours of September 11th last.
The brigantine was en route to La Rochelle for a maritime festival and reported maintenance works. The first remote underwater survey identified it as sitting upright on the seabed some 22km west of Belle-Ile on the northwest French coast.
However, a 42m wooden schooner and training vessel, the Tho-Pa-Ga, which sank last July in a similar location, is believed to have been damaged by fishing activity.
Fine Gael’s defence spokesman Jimmy Deenihan and former minister for defence and Progressive Democrats TD Bobby Molloy have both criticised the delay in initiating a salvage last autumn, when weather conditions were stable.
The vessel was insured for €3.8 million, and reconstruction would be significantly cheaper than replacement. Mr Molloy said it was “regrettable” the Minister had not “acted quickly”.
