The steel motor trawler Jack Abry II was launched from the yard of Crist SA, Gdansk, Poland (Yard No 398) in 2005. She measured 39.26 metres and her gross tonnage was 840 gross tons. Built for Scapeche SA, Lorient, France she was primarily based at Lochinver, Scotland although she was registered in her home port of Lorient, France. Built to operate off the Scottish west coast trawling for demersal (bottom living) fish she regularly landed her catch at Lochinver where it was loaded on refrigerated trucks and transported to the company’s home base in Lorient.
Jack Abry II under way
On 31st July 2011 Jack Abry arrived back in Lochinver completing her latest fishing expedition and quickly began to offload her catch to the waiting refrigerated truck on the harbour side. As was the usual practice, her replacement crew boarded her while the offloading continued. Her regular skipper had arrived from Lorient on the company’s private jet, landing in Inverness then transported by mini-bus to Lochinver, an eight hour plus end to end journey, which became the focus of much attention at the enquiry after her loss. The effects of his exhausting journey were apparently exacerbated by domestic issues at home which had disturbed his sleep for the previous three of four nights. He immediately began preparations for the Jack Abry’s departure. The weather forecast was poor for the north west of Scotland so he decided to head further south and fish off the Irish west coast.
At 14:30 Jack Abry headed out from Lochinver and steered south east down the Scottish west coast. The skipper was following previous voyages on this coast recorded on his navigation equipment and had not calculated a new set of navigation instructions. As they left Lochinver the skipper and his first mate were in the wheelhouse but the mate soon went below. At 16:30 the skipper was relieved by the mate and went below for a meal. As two of his crew were celebrating birthdays he enjoyed two glasses of whisky with his meal before he returned to the wheelhouse at 18:00 to take charge of the vessel once more. He stayed at the wheel, operating the vessel by autopilot, until 23:00 when his watch was due to end but he decided to stay in charge longer to take the Jack Abry through the Sound of Canna before handing over to his mate who was due back on deck at that time. Around this time the ship’s radar was only working intermittently due to a series of heavy, squally showers making it difficult to get an accurate view of the vessel’s situation. He later stated that his next recollection was of the vessel running aground. She ran aground at a speed of 13.5 knots at 23:16 that night on the north west coast of the island of Rum. She took on a slight list to port but otherwise the crew were in no danger. They launched the ship’s life rafts as a precaution but then settled down to await the arrival of the rescue craft that had responded to their distress signals. Mallaig lifeboat arrived at 00:30 and reported her aground forward floating at the stern but rolling heavily and fuel leaking from stern area. The lifeboat offered to attempt to tow her off but the skipper declined. At 01:00 a rescue helicopter arrived and lifted off all fourteen crewmen. Over the next few days the Jack Abry settled on the rocks in poor weather and was later declared a constructive total loss. The subsequent enquiry held that the loss was predominantly due to the poor navigation of the vessel by the skipper and that he had probably fallen asleep at the wheel in her final moments.
Jack Abry aground on Rum
The wreck of the Jack Abry lies in approximate position 57° 02.150’N, 006° 22.150’W and is visible at all states of the tide. Over the years since her stranding the wreck has gradually deteriorated and now is rusted and broken lying with a heavy list to port on the rocks on the north west coast of Rum.
