Sunken Boat Salvaged

Thursday, 4 June 2020 08:26

A boat which sank after hitting rocks off the Minquiers has been salvaged.

Yacht Aruba ran aground late on Sunday night. Three people on board were rescued from the reef's main island by lifeboat crews.

A team from Ports of Jersey and Jersey Oyster Company worked together to recover the wreckage on Wednesday in a three hour operation.

The oyster firm's landing craft Normandy Trader and PoJ workboat Halcyon moved it from rocks into a lagoon to allow a recovery attempt over the low water.

"A small amount of gearbox oil and diesel were lost during the recovery process, but the vessel fuel tanks remained intact minimising any impact to the environment.

This was a difficult and challenging task requiring the highest level of seamanship to complete successfully and it very likely if action hadn't been taken to remove the wreck it would have broken up over the next few days posing risk to both navigation and the environment. " - Captain Bill Sadler, Jersey Harbourmaster

The vessel has now been brought back to St Helier’s New North Quay.

Photos supplied by Ports of Jersey