Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Owner should have ensured fishing boat was seaworthy’ says Procurator Fiscal during FAI into death of Argyll fisherman

l
l

The owner of a small fishing boat, whose sinking led to the death of a father-of-three, should have ensured it was in a seaworthy condition.

That was the view of Procurator Fiscal David Glancy yesterday as the final submissions were made in a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of 40-year-old Scott MacAlister.

Mr MacAlister was the skipper and sole occupant of Speedwell, owned by Luing ferry captain John Connell, which sank off Easdale Island on April 25, 2013.

The inquiry earlier heard that the boat had a leaky hatch.

Mr Glancy said: “The owner and master of the fishing vessel the Speedwell should have ensured that the vessel was in a worthy position to proceed to sea.

“A reasonable precaution would be to do all the work to ensure it was watertight and thereby make it seaworthy.”

He stated that another precaution would have been for the owner of Speedwell to ensure there were life jackets on board the vessel.

Mr Glancy added: “Having regard to the evidence on the balance of probability, it is my submission that [on April 25] there were no life jackets on board the fishing vessel Speedwell.

“The wearing of a lifejacket would have been a reasonable precaution whereby Mr MacAlister’s death might have been avoided.”

He also said Mr MacAlister’s death could have been avoided if he had made a mayday call earlier when he initially realised the boat was taking on water.

Mr Glancy praised the actions of recreational diver Graeme Bruce who, out of a sense of personal duty, went down to the wreck at 272ft to try to find Mr MacAlister’s remains.

He said: “This dive was to a depth far lower than police and Royal Navy divers would do.

“I would ask that this courageous act of generosity is formally acknowledged by the court.”

Mr Connell’s solicitor Michael Thompson said: “The court must try to establish precisely when and in what circumstances this boat became un-seaworthy. It is John Connell’s position that he was simply not aware of this.”

He said if there were no life jackets on the boat, regrettably the late Mr MacAlister would have to bear the responsibility of not raising that with the owner.

Lewis Kennedy, solicitor for the MacAlister family, said: “Mr MacAlister had been under pressure from Mr Connell to take the boat to sea.”

He called for better regulation of the safety of boats and claimed Mr MacAlister should have reasonably been able to rely on the safety equipment being fully operational.

And he added it would be a reasonable assumption that Mr Connell would have carried out safety checks.

Mr Kennedy concluded: “Mr Connell showed complete disregard for the safety of the skipper.”

Sheriff Patrick Hughes said he would issue his findings in writing as quickly as possible.