Abandoned Sailboat! In the Atlantic Ocean

For the full video click here:

[rogerbannon]

This boat was owned by the recently deceased Alan Mc Gettigan (of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire Ireland) who had to abandon the boat in the midst of a severe storm on their way back to Ireland via the Azores. This all happened nearly 10 years ago. All on board, experienced sailors, were safely rescued. .

[oeympwf]

For those who dont know, the guy in the video is Matt Rutherford. First man to ever sail non stop, single handed around North and South America. He did it in a 27 foot long sailboat, what a legend. There's a documentary called "Red Dot on the Ocean"

[Thomas-qjxs]

The ship had only been left abandoned for 9 weeks back in 2013. This video, although released just four days ago on December 23rd, 2022, the abandoning of the ship occurred in February of 2013 and was found 9 weeks later, when these researchers stumbled upon it.

9 weeks with nobody manning it and no anchor or anything is impressive as hell. Shows you how durable these beauties can be.

[jadepaulsen]

I like how this guy tells a story. Short, sweet and to the point.

[renatonovis]

I'm no sailor(though my father was) but it always awes me the sense of camaraderie while on the ocean, how they just stumbled upon a freight ship and convinced them to give you some fuel. When you're on the sea, It feels like everyone is a bit more honest and straightforward because they have to be, the seas are dangerous and you'll go that extra mile so that you know others will do the same to you. Maybe it's just me being a tad too emotional, but that's how I feel about life on the sea.

[guyhmajor]

Lucky Billy Zane wasn't hiding in a cupboard with a knife in his mouth.

[jeffgold]

for all the people speculating about everything ; he tells the whole story on his podcast, complete with contacting the owner, lawyers, insurance companies, salvage companies . there is a lot more to this story for anyone interested

[davidrobinsonkwvz]

Matt has a great story. I was honored to have him crew on my boat, Paradiso, for the Leukemia Cup Regatta on the Potomac River to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. That was about 12 years ago or so. He is a very nice fellow and is making a difference raising awareness of ocean pollution issues around the world.

Great job on the salvage Matt. Hope you are doing great.

When you think about your troubles and bad luck, towing her, breaking down, no wind for 23 days, the boat seems cursed . I think that although it went bad, it could have ended much worse . I'm glad you're alive and well !

[gordonbennet]

I'm a sailing man. It's easy to get self-righteous & over-critical. But I did a bit of reading about Alan Mc Gettigan & the boat he abandonded. Ship's batteries were exhausted. Yep - that's what batteries do. That's why boats carry an independent generator. Engine wouldn't run properly - mucky fuel shaken up by bad weather. Yep - that's what happens in a boat - so before a voyage, u clean out the bottom of the tanks, purge all the lines, & clean/ replace the filters. Cooker wouldn't work cos it needed electricity. Batteries flat. We're back to needing a generator. Why was the boat dismasted? It sh hv had a storm jib up, and laid ahull. The boat was abandoned in perfectly good condition - no hull damage at all. No attempt to make a jury rig from spinnaker poles or whatever. Everything about the incident screams unprepared crew, captain, and ship. The crew gave up before the boat did.

[robdog]

Pity, Swans are battlewagons, they're awesome boats and tough as nails. It was sad to see it in that shape and very obvious that it had been through hell and back. The fact it was still afloat is a testament to how well they're built!

[thebarbers]

When I was in the U.S.Navy we found a zodiac with divers flags posted, but we seen school of dolphin the fish Dorado and a few Black Tips circling the zodiac. We waited 2 hours in hope the diver would see our ship and surface but as it turned to 3 hours. We put our small boat in and brought the zodiac on board and pulled the flags from the water...realizing the owner possibly drowned. After bringing the zodiac on board our ship circling the area an additional hr. As the sun was setting we left the area, our chaplain said a brief prayer and we went to the Bahamas were the Coast Guard met us took possession of the Zodiac they returned to the area and conducted a search to no avail. This was in 1990

[Ogsonofgroo]

Old story but quite a story, great find, Swans are really skoocum vessels, I mean seriously, it got knocked down a couple of times, survived nine weeks drifting around (!!!?!!!) and was still afloat, a worthy craft that most sensible sailors would have hung onto through hell or high water, but I can see an older crew get tired of being smashed around. I am off to seek more of this story>>>>

[mrkamm]

You might be surprised by how many sailboats get abandoned offshore for medical emergencies (or incompetence). I've been involved with two, one an elderly couple was airlifted off when the husband suffered a heart attack and we found the boat 2 weeks later adrift. The second was a novice who tried to sail across the Gulf of Mexico solo in Feb with no experience and a lack of seamanship skills. He lost his engine, couldn't sail and didn't know enough to put out a sea anchor so was beam to in 3-4m seas for several days before he made a distress call and abandoned his boat (we plucked him off his boat with our FRC and Coast Guard helo'd him from there).

[thebarbers]

1980's onboard a naval ship out of of San Diego bound from Hawaii we passed a junk with a .50 caliber mounted on its bow, since it was international waters we could do nothing, but we rendered aid to a sail boat a man his wife and 2 daughter had became sick and needed fuel. We brought the family on board and our corpsman checked them out and we refuel their sail boat, they were told of that boat with the gun...we left the area to do our op....3 days later as we return to Hawaii our Port Lookout spotted something big in the water half submerged. As we got closer it was identified as a sailboat. Upon inspection by out seal team that dove on the boat it had taken small arms fire and video tapes was brought back and it was later found to be that family...no survivors. Our Seal Team commander wanted to go after that junk because we had passed it about 4 hrs earlier heading back to Hawaii. The Captain was mad as hell! He said we can't be sure and we are not a bunch goddamm mercenaries. So it was stated that Seal Team Sea Fox needed to test the engines and its equipment so we put the Seal Team in their boat out but not before they loaded out with weapons. We had to remain on station....it was a little after midnight and all hell broke loose on the horizon...you can hear automatic weapons fire and some explosion 💥 💥 💥! Later that morning as we were bringing back the Sea Fox the Seal Team Leader met the Captain he asked how was training he said training went as expected...He handed the captain one of our ships hat. As parting gifts to the sailboat family the Captain gave them hats with the ship name on it. The Captain stormed away saying those motherfuckers!! Be careful out there Costal pirates are very real.

[tobyknowles]

Mr. Rutherford, thank you for salvaging this lovely yacht. I see from other comments below that the crew were saved after unfortunately abandoning her in a fierce storm. Glad to see that you are still sailing & that your circumnavigation of the America's didn't put you off other sometimes arduous journeys at sea. PS: love the full beard & hairy bear look.

[johnvanslykejr.]

Roger Bannon, This is an amazing story. What a find. Under maritime law, whoever puts a line on an abandoned vessel at sea owns the vessel. Swans are among the finest big sailboats made.

[ottobihrer]

A Swan 48 is a huge ship, basically unsinkable, in good condition worth 800, 000 Dollars. Why didn't they use the Swans Motor? The boat belonged to skipper Alan McGettigan from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. He and crewmates Declan Hayes, Morgan Crowe and Tom Mulligan were rescued by a Greek cargo ship 64 miles north of Bermuda when their 48-ft yacht suffered two knockdowns during in 20-ft waves and 50 knots wind. Alan activated an emergency beacon and they left Wolfhound in the water. Nine weeks later, it was stumbled upon by Matt and his team who filmed the recovery. The beautiful boat was abandoned by Alan McGettigan, because of a discomfort level that was by no means life-threatening.

[tkpeters]

Nice find, strange how they reported it sunk to the insurance co.
I hope you got it back to port & fixed it up under salvage rules, original fault listed as Gunk in the Fuel Tank.

[freddywulf]

this was in 2013, 4 crew were plucked from distressed SV Wolfhound days earlier in 20-foot waves and 50 knots wind, by an Ocean Freighter.