Tag Archives: Martin Johnstone
F/V Louisa salvaged and renamed, is back at sea
The fishing boat Louisa which sank in the Western Isles resulting in the deaths of three fishermen is back at sea. Renamed Nimrod, the crab boat is working in South West Cornwall. The convener of Western Isles Council has said that this news must evoke strong memories for the families of those involved with the Louisa. Louisa sank while at anchor off the Isle of Mingulay in the Outer Hebrides on April 9 2016. Skipper Paul Alliston and crewmen Martin Johnstone and Chris Morrison all perished. One survivor, Lachlan Armstrong, managed to swim to shore.. >click to read<15:29
Sole survivor of fishing boat tragedy reveals how he swam to shore in only a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a faulty life jacket
He was the sole survivor of a fishing boat tragedy that claimed the lives of his three crew-mates. Now Lachlann Armstrong has revealed for the first time how he cheated death when the Louisa sank off the coast of the Hebrides in April last year. His electrifying testimony describes how, wearing nothing but a pair of tracksuit trousers and a faulty life jacket, he swam for his life, battling in complete darkness through water just a few degrees above freezing, toward a shore he could not even see.,,, He spoke of the terrifying moment the crew awoke to the boat sinking and the panic when they realised the emergency vessel (raft) wouldn’t inflate. click here to read the story 11:34
Marine Accident Investigation Branch – Fishermen ‘worked to exhaustion’ before death in sinking
Martin Johnstone, Christopher Morrison and Paul Alliston died when the Louise went down in the Outer Hebrides in April last year. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) found a series of mistakes contributed to the sinking of the boat, while the emergency response was delayed by almost an hour. The Louisa’s four-man crew were asleep when the creel boat began taking on water at anchor off Mingulay. They had worked 20-hour shifts for four days before the sinking, sleeping between stringing creels and eating snacks as they went. An alarm intended to warn them about flooding had been disabled and they did not wake up until the Louisa was already sinking rapidly. The men abandoned the boat but were unable to inflate their faulty life raft. click here to read the story 20:56
