DEATH BOAT BACK AT SEA
Two years after a tragedy which claimed three lives, trawler is working again
A CRAB boat in which three Scots fishermen were killed after it sank is back at sea two years after the tragedy.
The Louisa flooded when the deck wash hose was left running and the hold filled with water as the crew slept.
Two of the men – Martin Johnstone, 29, from Halkirk, Caithness, and Chris Morrison, 27, from Stornoway, Lewis, – were later found dead, face down in the water, despite wearing lifejackets.
The body of skipper Paul Alliston, 42, from Lochs, Lewis, has never been recovered.
The fourth crew member, Lachlann Armstrong, 27, from Stornoway, managed to swim to safety from the vessel, which was anchored off Mingulay in the Western Isles on April 9, 2016.
Now it has emerged the Louisa has been refitted, renamed and is working off the Cornish coast. Cornish Crab Company owner Mark Rowse added the boat – since renamed Nimrod – to his fleet following its recovery.
Images on social media show it being refitted in a dry dock while still under the name Louisa.
But one fisherman commented: ‘That boat should have been cut up after all her crew drowned – it will never be lucky now.’
Western Isles Council convener Norman Macdonald said: ‘I would imagine it will certainly reinstate some of the feelings the families had at the time.
‘It will bring back all the memories they have of what happened. It is bound to evoke some quite strong emotions for them.’
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman confirmed yesterday that the vessel had been re-registered.
He said: ‘After the refit was complete, the vessel was issued with a Small Fishing Vessel Certificate on June 28, 2018.’
New owner Mr Rowse was unavailable for comment yesterday.
An inquiry into the Louisa tragedy said the powerful deck pump would have filled the hold to a ‘critical point’ within an hour.
Chief inspector of marine accidents Steve Clinch said a ‘previously disconnected bilge alarm sounder prevented them [the crew] from being alerted until just before the vessel foundered’.