EXCLUSIVE Family of chef who died alongside six others on the doomed Bayesian superyacht could be in line for massive £40MILLION compensation

Daily Mail​

18-05-2025

The family of a chef who died aboard the doomed superyacht Bayesian is seeking 'justice' for his death - and could be in line for a $40 million compensation payout.
Canadian Antiguan Recaldo Thomas, 59, was among seven people who drowned when the yacht owned by British tech billionaire Mike Lynch went down in a violent storm off the coast of Sicily last summer.
Mr Lynch and his daughter Hannah, 18, were also among the victims, and an interim report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch last week highlighted design flaws in the yacht and crew response as possible factors in the sinking.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Recaldo's sister-in-law Joycelyn Palmer, who is executor of his estate, said:' We just want justice and yes, we will be looking at compensation, someone must pay for what happened.
'We all knew Recaldo as Rick, and he was a lovely, lovely man with a heart of gold, and his smile would light up the room, I never heard him say he'd had a bad day, and he loved working on yachts, he was at sea for more than 30 years.
'He was friendly and endearing, and he was such a positive person, full of goodness, and when he died, it was a terrible shock for all of us, and it still upsets us to talk about it because he didn't need to die.
'It took us six weeks to get his body back, and because of that, we had to have a closed casket, and we couldn't even say goodbye properly; it hurt all of us really badly.'
Last week's MAIB report said the £30 million yacht was doomed after it was hit by 80.6mph winds, causing it to tilt violently on its side, and it was unable to straighten as the freak storm hit off the coast of Porticello on August 19.
The report highlighted how the keel had not been lowered and that 'vulnerabilities' in the yacht's stability had not been highlighted in the 184ft Bayesian's information manual carried onboard.
But Mrs Palmer, who lives in Antigua, has also questioned whether the yacht's 236ft tall mast also played a part in the yacht sinking in just 16 minutes after it was hit by a freak storm with 70 knot winds.
Sharing pictures of Recaldo on the Bayesian taken just hours before he died, she said:' I looked up the yacht and when I saw the mast I just thought that must have something to do with what happened. You can even see it in one of the last pictures he sent us.
'But I think that was one of many factors, were the manufacturers aware of what the mast might do because once the yacht tilted, there was nothing that could be done.'
'Also, the crew were definitely at fault; they seem to have taken the weather report for granted, and as a result, didn't act on time. One guy filmed the storm as it approached and put it on social media.
'The crew didn't alert the captain until it was too late, so they were negligent, and then the manufacturers don't appear to have been aware of the safety issues.
'The more I read about it, the more upset I get because it looks as if a number of circumstances all came together and it cost my brother-in-law his life.
'Any compensation is going to be handled by our lawyers, and anything we get will go towards creating a legacy for Rick in Antigua, where he lived, and to celebrate his life.
'To know he has gone has been really rough. I cope by thinking he is away on one of his voyages.'
Lawyer James Healy-Pratt, who is representing the family, said:' They have serious concerns about a series of failures evidently involved in the causes of this tragedy.
'These include failures in design, safety certificates, the seaworthiness of the yacht, and the actions of some of the crew during the storm.
'The mast had a longer wingspan than a jumbo and would have acted as an aerofoil in a storm.'
Mr Healy-Pratt added they were looking at a 'US lawsuit against various entities' in the future and'$40 million pay-out would not be out of the question for an emotional loss'.
He added: 'Those entities include the American Bureau of Shipping, Camper and Nicholsons, who managed the yacht and Angela Bacares, Mr Lynch's wife.'
Mrs Bacares survived the sinking, and Mr Healy-Pratt said the family noted she was 'up on deck when a number of questionable decisions were being made by the crew'.
He highlighted how a recent lawsuit in New York had paid out $90 million to relatives of the man killed in a 2018 helicopter crash.
Italian Sea Group, which bought Perini Navi, which built the Bayesian, has insisted the yacht 'was unsinkable' and declined to comment following the MAIB report.
The Bayesian sank in just 16 minutes after being hit by the violent 'mesocyclonic storm front' which has violent downdrafts and surface winds over 100mph (87 knots).
In its report, the MAIB said the captain and crew would have had no idea of the yacht's vulnerabilities as they were not laid out in the stability information booklet onboard.
Salvage crews had hoped to raise the Bayesian – which is lying 160ft below the surface - this weekend, but the death nine days ago of a Dutch diver has delayed the £20 million operation until later this month.
Minute by minute, how the Bayesian tragedy unfolded
August 18 - PM: The Bayesian was anchored at Cefalù on the northern coast of Sicily to shelter from the forecast weather and to allow for easy disembarkation of guests the following day.
August 19 - 00.30am: Having checked the weather the captain and the last guest had retired, leaving deckhand (DH1) and the evening steward (S1) on duty.
01.00am: The second deckhand (DH2) took over the watch. The wind at this time was noted as being no more than 8kts (9.2pmh).
03.00am: DH2 noted the wind as being at 8kts (9.2pmh) from the west but thought that the thunderclouds and lightning seemed to be getting closer.
03.55am: The deckhand 'videoed the advancing storm and posted it to their social media feed' before closing the hatches and cockpit windows.
03.57am: The winds had picked up to 30kts (35mph) and the Bayesian was listing and dragging its anchor.
04.00am: The deckhand ran to wake up the skipper and the crew leapt into action and began preparing to manoeuvre the Bayesian by starting the generators and steering pumps.
The rest of the crew, woken by either the captain or the yacht's change of motion, got up and made their way out of the crew accommodation.
Chef Recaldo Thomas was spotted in the galley stowing cutlery, pots and pan and called out 'Good morning!' to nearby stewards.
The Bayesian was lying with the wind about 60 degree off the port bow and moving at 1.8kts south-south-east of its original position.
Two guests – a British couple – had been woken by the movements and decided to head to the saloon with their baby.
4.06am: Disaster struck as the wind suddenly increased to more than 70kts (80.5mph) ripping the awning away. The Bayesian 'violently heeled over' in less than 15 seconds to a 90-degree angle.
The sudden movement sent people as well as furniture flying across the deck leaving five people including the captain injured while a deckhand was thrown into the sea.
Two guests trapped in their cabin were forced to used furniture drawers as an improvised ladder to escape into the saloon area.
The yacht's crew were able to push four guests through the cascading water up to the skipper on the flying bridge.
The captain called for the guests and crew to swim clear of the mast and boom as the vessel sank.
04.22am: The crew had launched the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB). They noted that the wind had eased and that Bayesian was only a short distance from shore.
In the water, a deckhand(DH2) improvised a tourniquet for one of the guest's gashed arm while a cushion was used as a flotation device foe the baby. Some of the survivors were treading water and others held on to some cushions that had floated free from Bayesian.
One of the guests frantically searched for other survivors in vain using the torch from their phone - while the captain and chief officer frantically freed the life raft from the sinking wreck.
04.24am: The captain and chief officer frantically freed the life raft from the sinking wreck. It was was inflated and the survivors were able to get inside it where the crew began administering first aid.
The skipper tried to raise the alarm by shouting at and then paddling towards the nearby vessel the Sir Robert Baden Powell.
04.34am: The Chief Engineer fired a red parachute flare from the life raft. Despite the winds being calm at the surface, the flare was carried sideways. He then used the life raft's torch to signal towards a hotel on the cliffs above them, passing cars, and Sir Robert Baden Powell.
04.43am: The Chief engineer fired a second parachute flare that was seen by the crew of Sir Robert Baden Powell. Responding to the flare, the skipper dispatched its tender towards the visible lights of the EPIRB and life raft.
04.53am: The tender carrying the 15 survivors returned to Sir Robert Baden Powell and a brief search was look for the missing seven people who were also on board.