A memorial service is to be held tomorrow for the skipper of the worst fishing disaster off the Outer Hebrides in half a century.
The minister conducting the service says it is an attempt by the family of Paul Alliston – known locally as Paul MacMillan – to get “some closure” and comes at a time when the official report into the tragedy is due within days.
The service will mark around the first anniversary of the sinking of the Louisa which sank at anchor off Mingulay with the loss of three lives on April 9 last year.
The bodies of Chris Morrison, 27, from Harris, and Martin Johnstone, 29, from Halkirk, Caithness, were found following the tragedy.
Only new father Lachlann Armstrong, 27, from Stornoway, survived.
Skipper Mr Alliston, 42, a non-swimmer from Lewis, remains missing despite a massive search.
His memorial service takes place at Martin’s Memorial Church in Stornoway tomorrow at 1.30pm and will be conducted by the minister, the Rev. Tommy MacNeil.
“The service is at the request of Paul’s family and is an attempt to get some closure. It is adding to their pain that his body has not been found,” he said.
The Marine Accidents Investigation Branch has confirmed that the official report into why the Louisa sank on a calm night has now gone out to consultation.
The results are to be made public within days – unless there are objections to the conclusions that have been reached.
The tragedy is likely to have far reaching consequences for the fleet of small inshore fishing boats that work around Scotland – and indeed the UK coast.
The Louisa was lifted from the sea bed in a bid to help find out what caused the crabber to sink.
It was then taken by barge, towed by a tug, to Glasgow and where for nearly a year it has been examined by a team of experts.
“The date of publication will depend on the detail of the comments we receive. Given the formal consultation, we are not planning on publishing an interim report,” said a spokesman for the MAIB. “The aim of our investigation is to establish why the fishing vessel Louisa sank and why lives were lost.”
Investigators believe they now know how water came to fill the 15-metre boat as it lay at anchor in calm seas and if all the automatic alarms that sound when there is a leak activated.
It is understood they have a good idea why the boat’s liferaft failed to release and then did not inflate.
Ultimately that failure was instrumental in the three men dying.
More than £25,000 was raised in two crowdfunding campaigns for the families.
Mr Armstrong swam for shore and was found clinging desperately to rocks.