The partner of a fisherman lost at sea described her last conversation with him at Fatal Accident Inquiry at Oban Sheriff Court yesterday.
Scott MacAlister, a 40-year-old dad of four, was lost when the small prawn boat Speedwell went down off the isle of Easdale, south of Oban.
Mr MacAlister was the only occupant of the boat at the time of the accident five years ago and was on his way home to the Isle of Luing after fishing off Mull.
Victoria McNab, 41, told how she phoned Mr MacAlister at lunchtime on April 25, 2013, and he told her water was coming in through the hatches.
She said: “He sounded quite calm. I would have thought he would have been more stressed than that.
“I asked him if he wanted me to phone the coastguard and he said no. He said he wasn’t taking the boat out again until John got the hatches fixed.
“He said I was to phone him in an hour. He was still quite calm.”
But she never got the chance to speak to him again, telling Fiscal David Glancy: “He was already gone.”
A recording of Ms McNab speaking to the coastguard was played in court yesterday. The operator told her that there was a helicopter and lots of boats out looking for her partner, but she said she could could not remember anything about the conversation. “I must have been hysterical,” she said.
Next to give evidence was Robert Gate, 41, who worked on Speedwell with Mr MacAlister on about six occasions.
Mr Gate, of Uig, on Skye, has been a fisherman for 25 years.
He said of Mr MacAlister: “He was a very good seaman.”
But he said there were problems with the bilge pump on the boat used for getting rid of excess water. “It wasn’t wired up, Scott would have to crawl into the engine compartment and put the wires onto the battery to pump it.”
He said that on two separate trips on Speedwell they had to bail out the fish hold area with a bucket.
Mr Gate said: “I went to the back of the boat. It was a bit rolly and I noticed sloshing of water. We lifted the hatch and there was lots of water. The water was waist height. We bailed it out with a bucket. We found it the water was coming in through the hatch when it was washing across the deck.”
He said a few days later it happened again. “The water was near enough at the top of the hatch.
“I think Scott spoke to John Connell about it and told him we needed bilge pumps. Scott ended up driving to Oban and getting them himself, I don’t know if they ever got fitted.”
Mr Gate said he never saw any lifejackets aboard the boat. He added: “I think there was an inflatable raft down in the accommodation but it was full of holes and tied together with string.
Mr Connell’s solicitor Michael Thompson asked: “Would you agree it would have been a reasonable precaution not to sail the boat when it was unsafe?”
Mr Gate replied: “It probably was a wee bit daft but John connell was at us to go out fishing. He wasn’t happy when the boat was tied up.”
The inquiry continues today.
