A survivor of the Bourbon Dolphin disaster has described how a series of problems and misunderstandings in what should have been a routine anchor-laying operation caused the oil rig support vessel to overturn.
First mate Geir Syversen said the ship's captain, Oddne Arve Remoy, moments before the boat capsized, called a second vessel involved in the operation and asked if they "knew the difference between north-west and south-east".
Eight of the 15 crew died two weeks ago in the tragedy west of Shetland.
Mr Syversen told the inquiry at Aalesund in Norway that he managed to climb towards the starboard side and saw other crewmen being thrown around as the ship capsized. "The last thing I saw as I exited the bridge was the captain and his son falling towards the other side".
When he fell in the freezing water he was not wearing a vest. He managed to hold on to a crewman who drifted by wearing a vest and they then entered a liferaft, where a third crew member joined them. He also saw three other crewmen drifting on a chemical tank.
The rescue crew from the standby vessel Viking Victory arrived. However, the men were left in the liferaft while the searchers tried to locate any more survivors.
Questioned by judge Knut Andreas Oskarsson and marine inspectors Nils Ivar Soerdal and Jon Ramsoey, Mr Syversen explained the crew were involved in a routine operation in 10ft waves and 32-knot winds.
Because they were handling anchor chains in deep water, they requested help from a secondary anchor-handling vessel, Highland Valour.
The Highland Valour was asked to pull a relief wire to the north-west but, according to Mr Syversen, headed in the opposite direction.
Around the same time the engine room reported that the engines were overheating and asked that thrust be reduced.
The first mate said that would take them off course but just then the tension on the chain increased, indicating the relief wire from the Highland Valour had slipped.
By now the Dolphin had started to list noticeably and the rig suggested that one of the tow pins be released to allow the anchor more slack.
When it was released, the anchor chain dragged towards the port side, turning the ship over in that direction.
Mr Syversen explained that ballast water was pumped into the starboard side to straighten the list, but it did not work, and an emergency release mechanism for the chain and wires ran too slowly.
The three crew members confirmed dead are chief officer Bjarte Grimstad, 37, second officer Kjetil Rune Vage, 31, and 44-year-old captain Remoy.
His son David Remoy, 14, is still missing, along with chief engineer Frank Nygard, 42, second engineer Ronny Emblem, 25, electrician Soren Kroer, 27, and 54-year-old bosun Tor Karl Sando.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article