The incredible crane that will carry Bayesian: Specially constructed lifter will slowly take £25 million superyacht to safety

Daily Mail​

22-06-2025

This is the specially built cradle that will hold the wreck of the £25million superyacht Bayesian.
Seven people including tech tycoon Mike Lynch, 59, and his daughter Hannah, 18, died when the 183ft yacht sank after being hit by a superstorm last summer.
On Sunday, following a two-month £20 million salvage operation the Bayesian, now fully out of the water after being lifted 160ft from the seabed, was due to be taken to the port of Termini Imerese and lowered into the cradle.
The journey of 12 miles was expected to take most of the day as the support crane carrying her, the Hebo Lift 10, will travel at a snail's pace to prevent any excessive swinging motion.
MailOnline was able to watch a team of workmen, wearing high viz jackets and safety helmets, working in the 30c heat on the quayside at Termini Imerese putting together what appeared to resemble a Meccano set.
Five sets of stilts could be seen on the dockside, and it is here that Bayesian will be gently placed when she arrives from site where she sank at the picturesque fishing hamlet of Porticello.
A white tarpaulin has also been placed under the stilts which will capture any of the 18,000 litres of fuel that are still onboard although officials say the tanks have held and they are hopeful of preventing an environmental disaster.
Once safely set up in the cradle prosecutors and lawyers will go onboard to inspect her and try and establish why she sank in just 16 minutes when the storm struck – while another yacht anchored a short distance away stayed afloat.
A manslaughter probe has been opened against three crew members including New Zealand born captain James Cutfield, first engineer Tim Parker Eton and night watchman Matthew Griffiths.
Locals say the storm was forecast and there have been suggestions doors and hatches left open may have contributed to the disaster, while others have also highlighted the height of her trademark 236 ft mast.
To help the salvage operation, this was cut off last week and is still on the seabed but will be brought to the surface using inflatable balloons and also taken to Termini Imerese at a later date.
A source with salvage firm TMC Marine said:' The cradle is custom designed and built in the Netherlands and was brought to the site by road early in the project.
'Each section is shaped to conform with the hull whilst till permitting the lift rigging to be removed.'
On Sunday the Bayesian was fully out of the water and at first glance doors and hatches appeared to be closed and the once pristine white sun canopy on the sun deck was tattered, torn and stained brown by the sea.
Guard rails were also dented, and the once pristine shiny blue hull was dirty and covered with algae, the keel, rudder and propellers were also clearly visible as she hung in the air, suspended around 15ft from the surface of the sea.
She was brought to the surface by 16 sets of cables - four at the bow and four at the stern - and of particular interest will be the starboard side of the yacht which was where she was resting on the seabed and as of now not visible.
The operation has been marked by tragedy with the death of a Dutch diver last month after an explosion as he worked to remove the mast and this has led to locals in Porticello claiming the yacht is 'cursed'.
One told the MailOnline:' I'm sorry for those who died but I'm glad she is now away from here and we don't have to see these giant cranes in the sea anymore.
'My heart goes out to the people who died and their families but with the diver being killed last month it just makes me and lots of other people think she is bad luck, and we want her away.'
An interim report from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch last month suggested Bayesian was 'vulnerable' to high winds and these risks were not highlighted in the yacht's manual.
The report said that the 'extreme wind 'gusts were more than 70mph experienced by Bayesian were sufficient to knock her over and that once she had tilted to more than 70' the 'situation was irrecoverable'.
However, despite this there has been a whirlwind of wild conspiracy theories in Italian media suggesting British and Israeli special services were involved and that 'secrets hidden in the safe' were removed.
Mr Lynch was on Bayesian with his wife – who survived the sinking – to celebrate his acquittal in June last year of fraud charges in an American court involving the sale of his firm Autonomy to Hewlett Packard in 2011.
Just two days before the sinking his business partner Stephen Chamberlain was run over and killed while out jogging in Cambridgeshire.