An official report into a fishing boat accident near a north-east port has found the skipper set off with faulty navigation equipment.
The Inverness-registered Courageous III trawler ran aground due to poor visibility shortly after leaving Peterhead Harbour on May 5.
None of her five crew was injured, but the hull of the Peterhead-based vessel was damaged and there was some minor oil pollution.
An inquiry by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch found the boat’s satellite compass was broken and her magnetic compass was “inaccurate and unreliable”.
The trawler had landed a half catch in Peterhead early in the morning on May 5 and was planning to sail with another vessel later that day.
By 8pm visibility had reduced to about 150ft, but the skipper decided to sail regardless and, as the Courageous III left her berth, she had two radar displays and a mapping system active.
But the inquiry found: “Importantly, its satellite gyro-compass was defective.”
The skipper navigated out of harbour visually, helped by the mate, said the report. But both became “disorientated” shortly after the trawler started turning to starboard.
The mate glanced at the rudder indicator and told the skipper there was a problem just before she grounded.
The harbour watchkeeper had by then become concerned and contacted the skipper by radio. He replied that she was aground and he was waiting for more water before trying to refloat her.
Just 12 minutes later, the vessel was refloated and returned to harbour.
The coastguard found oil leaking from the propeller and the trawler was hauled on to a nearby slipway.
The deputy chief inspector of marine accidents has written to her owner, Alex Flett, who is also understood to be the skipper, and Grampian Sea Fisheries, urging them to “carefully consider the implications of defective navigation equipment”.