Reports came in this morning that the fishing vessel The Brothers, registered at Banff (eastcoast), but operating out of Gairloch, was overdue. She had left the west coast harbour of Gairloch at 2 am on Thursday to fish for prawns. Her return had been anticipated for late Thursday evening, but the alarm was raised when The Brothers did not return. Coastguard, five fishing vessels and a lifeboat are scouring a huge area of sea between Kyle of Lochalsh and Cape Wrath in the east and the Western Isles and Skye to the west. An oil slick and wreckage were found at Gairloch, but are not though to be related to the incident.
Unfortunately, the fishing industry is the least safe industry to work in. In the 18 months that I've been in Lewis, several fishermen have gone overboard, and were never recovered from the sea. They usually wear oilskins, which will quickly weigh you down. The seawater temperature of the Atlantic varies between 9 and 14C (48 and 57 F), which gives you a survival span of 45 minutes. Other men have suffered injury and have had to be airlifted off their boats, up to 200 miles west of Lewis.
The search for the fishing vessel The Brothers was called off at 6pm tonight (June 2nd), when the weather closed in. Realistically speaking, there is no chance for the men to be found alive, unless they managed to gain the shoreline. Will update tomorrow, Saturday. View this report on BBC Online
3 June 2006
The search for the missing fishermen was resumed early this morning (Saturday). At 5pm this afternoon, it was announced that the wreck of their boat, FV The Brothers, had been located in the water near Eilean Trodday, just north of Skye. Unfortunately, there has been no sign of the two crewmen. One of them was due to attend his grandmother's funeral yesterday.
5 June 2006
Police divers searching the wreck of FV Brothers have found no trace of either crewman in it. Local info in Stornoway suggests the boat was damaged, and the escape hatches were open. The strong tidal currents in the Minch account for the liferings to be 35 miles away from the wreck, and may well have carried both men away as well. Hope has all but been abandoned to find them alive.
22 June 2006
Early this month, I reported the sinking of the fishing-boat Brothers, which had left the small harbour of Gairloch on 1 June, never to return. Her wreck was found at Eilean Trodday, north of Skye. The two crewmen went missing, but the body of one of them, 40-year old David Davidson, was found washed up today at Mellon Udridge, in Gruinard Bay, some distance to the northeast. The other man, 39-year old Neil Sutherland, remains missing.
Details courtesy BBC Online.
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