[Updated below 20.00 20th February] The grounded Lysblink Seaways seems to have got herself off the Rudha Aird rocks at Kilchoan at high water this evening, 19th February. She lifted off around 20.30 and started drifting eastwards towards Mingary Castle, on a promontory about a mile east of Kilchoan, connected to the mainland to the north by a rocky isthmus.
According to the report in the Kilchoan Diary here, she seems to have taken everyone by surprise. Most people were away from the pier eating at that time but although it was apparently not a planned manoeuvre, the two Briggs Marine boats which were on station, spotted her move, intercepted her before she made a second grounding and have her securely anchored.
The Kilchoan Diary says the vessel is reported as holed in nine places but may not be taking in much water. The issue may be whether she is emitting any more diesel. But as we reported earlier today, after discussions between the Secretary of State’s representative [SOSREP], Hugh Shaw and Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s Counter-Pollution, an absorbent boom was put in to cope with the oil leak from the starboard side of the vessel. We do not yet know whether that boom has stayed in contact with the vessel. In any case, the MCA had earlier reported that the leak was very light – described as amounting to an egg cupful; so the risk of pollution is currently slight.
Update 08.00 20th February
Lysblink Seaways has made it through the night, with the two Briggs Marine boats on station. Kilchoan Diary reports that she’s listing a little and is down at the stern – although this may be because of a fuel shift as she lay at quite an upward angle on the rocks. Further assessments of the vessel are being made, with the bottom of her hull now accessible for inspection.
Update 20.00 20th February
In a very tactfully worded press release, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said this afternoon: ‘Although the refloat was unscheduled, the Lysblink Seaways is in a much better situation.’
The reality is that the vessel slipped from the rocks courtesy of the tide and with no external intervention.
Obviously a devotee of archaeology, once free she seemed keen to get across the bay to Mingary Castle where another set of wrecking rocks was licking its lips in anticipation of her imminent arrival. Had the Briggs Marine boats not become aware of her ‘unscheduled refloat’ and intercepted her drift, she would have achieved a second unscheduled shoring.
The fuel is being drained from her tanks. She is said not to be taking in water, nor to be an environmental hazard. Divers have begun welding new plates to the bottom of her hull to make her safely seaworthy for when the time comes to tow her off for repair.
The MCA has put a new exclusion zone of 200 metres around her.
