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Mike Lynch's Sailing Yacht Has Been Recovered One Year After It Sank
Mike Lynch's ill-fated sailing yacht is finally out of the water.
The 184-foot Bayesian—which capsized off the coast of Sicily last August, killing the British tech mogul and six others—was pulled from the ocean on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Salvage recovery crews in Italy slowly raised the sloop from the seabed over three days using one of Europe's most powerful floating sea cranes. The yacht was transported from the fishing village of Porticello to the town of Termini Imerese on Sunday, according to The Guardian. It will be stored in a specially manufactured steel cradle so that British and Italian investigators can examine it as part of an inquiry into the cause of the sinking.
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Delivered by Perini Navi in 2008, Bayesian was originally sold to Dutch property developer John Groenewoud in 2008, before Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, purchased it through her company in 2014. Lynch and Bacares took their 18-year-old daughter and a group of friends to Sicily on the yacht last August. It is believed they were celebrating Lynch's recent acquittal: He had just been cleared of fraud charges relating to the purchase of his company Autonomy by Hewlett-Packard in 2011. That celebration ended in tragedy.
Bayesian was struck by a severe thunderstorm on August 19. The yacht, which was anchored just offshore near the port of Porticello, was hit by violent 80 mph winds that caused it to flood within seconds, according to the UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). A total of 22 people were on board; Lynch, his daughter, and five others died. Chairman of Morgan Stanley International Jonathan Bloomer and attorney Chris Morvillo were among those killed when the vessel sank, with a search and rescue mission later recovering the bodies of the seven people. Fifteen others—including nine crew members and six guests—scrambled into a life raft as the yacht began to capsize. Bacares was among those who were rescued.
Investigators are hoping that the salvaged yacht will help them determine the cause of the sinking. They will now carry out a forensic examination to work out whether one of the hatches remained open and whether the keel was improperly raised. A number of experts have speculated that water entering through the top via open hatches could have caused the sinking.
Italian prosecutors have opened an inquiry into suspected manslaughter and culpable shipwreck. Captain James Cutfield, engineer Tim Parker Eaton, and sailor Matthew Griffith have been placed under investigation, according to The Guardian. This does not imply guilt or mean that formal charges will necessarily follow.
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