Fatal voyage skipper ‘not distracted by WhatsApp’

A SCOTS skipper has denied that he was distracted by WhatsApp messages when his scallop dredger washed three men overboard to their deaths.

Four friends night fishing off the Sussex coast were swamped by wash from the Vertrouwen. Skipper David Marr, 55, from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, is accused of failing to set a proper watch after leaving Shoreham, Sussex, on August 6, 2017.

He told a jury in Brighton he was not distracted by his phone when his vessel passed close by the 16ft boat, James 2.

All four men were forced to jump overboard from the pleasure boat. Romanians Mircea ‘Mitch’ Ilie, 43, Irinel Popovici, 41, and Traian Dumitrache, 51, drowned.

The only survivor was Elvis Cojocariu, then aged 45.

Marr told the court he had wanted to make sure repairs made at Shoreham dry dock over the weekend had gone well and decided to take the first watch.

He said he put the Vertrouwen, with the minimum four crew, on autopilot after

‘I didn’t appoint two people to be on watch’

clearing the breakwater on their way to Grimsby. He said he made several attempts to send an email to fishing authorities, looked at a marine tracker app on his phone, sent a WhatsApp message and spoke to another member of the crew within minutes of setting off.

The following day a crewman told Marr there had been an incident off Shoreham the night before. Marr said it did not give him any cause for concern.

Lewes Crown Court heard guidance for shipping advises two people should be on watch. Asked if a second person would have helped to spot the James 2 before it was sunk, Marr said: ‘Certainly. In this short period of time, this tragic accident has happened, I don’t know if there was two of us there (in the wheelhouse).

‘It’s all ifs. We don’t know. I didn’t appoint two people to be on watch that night.’

Marr was asked: ‘Isn’t it the case, you set up the boat to sail herself while you went about doing other things?’ He replied: ‘No, I don’t think so.’

The fibreglass James 2 was not fitted with a radar reflector, and Marr said it did not show on his screen. He denies failing to set a proper watch. The trial continues.