Asgard II
A brigantine
Life[]
Built in 1981 and sank in 2008 in the bay of biscay.
Sinking[]
Asgard II sank in the Bay of Biscay on 11 September 2008, 20 nautical miles (37 km) southwest ofBelle-Île-en-Mer,[4] at 47°18′03″N 3°33′02″WCoordinates: 47°18′03″N 3°33′02″W.[5]
The five crew and twenty trainees had earlier abandoned the vessel after she started taking on water.[4] Asgard II was heading from Falmouth to La Rochelle for some routine maintenance.[6][dead link][7] Assistance was given by Haldoz and Arklow Venus and two lifeboatsfrom Belle Île, Morbihan, France.[5]
Before the end of 2008, a plan to raise the ship was put to the Irish cabinet. It was hoped that the €3.8 million costs would be paid for by the insurers, with the vessel being raised in spring 2009, given favourable conditions.[8]
The vessel was in a relatively good condition on the sea bed with one of her hull planks damaged; it is unclear whether this damage was caused by impact with the sea bed, or was the cause of the sinking, possibly from a collision with a semi–submerged container.[8] She rests under 80 metres (260 ft) of water on a sandy seabed with no rocks, and she was "upright on the seabed and salvageable" in September.[9][dead link] An early salvage was desirable before damage from winter storms and fishing nets. On 23 February 2009 the then Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, announced that the Asgard IIwould not be raised. Jimmy Deenihan, spokesperson for the opposition Fine Gael party expressed disappointment:
"It is over five months since the
Asgard II sank in the Bay of Biscay. In that time any chance that the vessel would be recovered were seriously undermined by the Ministers' own hesitancy on the matter. Not one but two salvage feasibility surveys were commissioned in that period and the available weather windows were wasted when a salvage operation was possible."[10]
In 2010 a private team of Irish divers recovered a number of artifacts from the wreck, such as the ships bell and steering wheel[11]
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Source: wikepedia