LECUME 11

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Ferry officer heard at court

Lewis Carr, the 2nd officer in charge of the 'Commodore Goodwill' was "shell-shocked" and "numb" after the collision with the fishing vessel 'L'Ecume II', the court has heard. He denied three counts of gross negligence manslaughter over the deaths of the skipper Michael Michieli and the crew members Larry Simyunn and Jervis Baligat. He is being tried alongside ex-Condor crew member Artur Sevash-Zade on the same charges. The court had previously heard that Mr Michieli would always have his fishing lights on as a matter of protection from larger boats. Carr told the jury he "didn't see any fishing lights" on L'Ecume II when using his sight and binoculars 20 minutes before the collision took place. e said he could see the ship's side lights, single mass headlight and some deck lights, and that the vessel was proceeding normally on its route. Between 05:15 a.m. GMT and 05:24 a.m. there was a small, slight echo of the 'L'Ecume II' on his radar. When he located the 'L'Ecume II' on the AIS he recognised it as a fishing boat by name, but "it didn't have fishing lights on". Carr told the jury that he expected the fishing vessel to take action and pass by the 'Commodore Goodwill' in accordance with maritime regulations. He maintained the course and speed of the Condor vessel until a minute before the collision. He altered to starboard side, and then the 'L'Ecume II' turned to port, which he did not expect and was against any collision regulations: "At that point, I was shocked at what I was seeing and sounded the horn to try and alert L'Ecume. With hindsight, it is late. But at the stage I didn't think L'Ecume would alter course to port which made the collision unavoidable." The prosecution had said that Carr had delayed calling the captain and coastguard about the collision by four minutes. Carr said he "couldn't think clearly at all" and that he was "kind of felt frozen. The first few minutes, the main priority was trying to get a visual of L'Ecume, then stabilise the vessel. At that point, the main focus was trying to get a visual of L'Ecume to see if she was down in the water or where exactly she was." Carr told the court that he ran out to the bridge wing to try and get a visual and, once the captain was onboard, he spent about 15 minutes using the search light to try and locate L'Ecume II before being sent to the captain's cabin after agreeing he was "in a state of shock". After being visited by the other 2d officer in his cabin, Carr said: "I don't think I was in the room. I wasn't responsive, I was still in a state of shock." Answering questions from defence lawyers, Carr told the jury that, after starting his shift at 01:00 a.m., he had been on the deck about five to 10 minutes beforehand to familiarise himself with what was going on before his handover with the other second officer. He proceeded towards Guernsey from Portsmouth and then handed back over to the captain of the ship to lead the vessel into the harbour at 02:40 a.m. As part of his role, Mr Carr would then leave the deck to assist with leaving the harbour from the afterdeck, located at the back of the ferry, acting as an extra pair of eyes to make sure the Goodwill cleared harbour safely. The 30-year-old said he then arrived back on the bridge at 04:52 a.m. and had been there for less than a minute before handover with the captain began. Asked by the defence if he felt pressured to take control of the deck from the captain, Mr Carr said it was "part of the job and obviously you wouldn't say to the captain: 'I don't want to take the conn'". Carr said the hours before had been "exhausting" and that officers were "ready for a change" and to work "more bearable" shift times. When asked if he was tired on the day of the collision, Mr Carr said he was not but "at the time, you just get on with your job". The trial was continued.

Two men tried for manslaughter after collision with trawler

Two men are being tried for manslaughter before the Royal Court of Jersey three years after the collision of the ferry 'Commodore Goodwill', now sailing as 'Caesarea Trader' (IMO: 9117985), with the 'L'Ecume II', that claimed the lives of three fishermen, among them the skipper, aged between 31, 33, and 62, on the Jersey trawler on Dec 8, 2022, at 5.30 a.m.. Almost three years after the incident, the trial iopened on Sep 1, 2025. Following the investigation, two men, aged 30 and 35, from Condor Ferries, were charged with manslaughter. They will appear in court for a month. After six days of searching, two bodies were recovered. The captain's body was found in April 2023. This tragedy deeply affected the fishing community in the English Channel. The Jersey trawler was well-known to fishing professionals in Granville; it regularly landed its catch at the auction and maintained its boat at the Granville shipyard. The two defendants denied any inattention, while the court presents a series of failings: failure to communicate, avoid collision, or maintain proper lookout, supported by audio evidence. 20 minutes before the collision, the "L'Écume II" already appeared on the ferry's radar. Ten minutes later, alarms sounded. The two defendants were then busy with non-urgent matters, according to the prosecution. When they reacted, it was too late. The trawler was only a few hundred meters away. The ferry, sailing on autopilo hit it head-on, at full speed. The trawler sank 40 meters below the surface. The trial before the Channel Island Royal Court is expected to last a month.

Inquiry: Grounding because tired helmsman fell asleep

The 'L'Ecume II', ran aground in Belcroute Bay on May 14 after the crewman at the helm fell asleep, a marine accident investigation has found. She had been at sea for 42 hours when the incident occurred. The two-man crew had been unable to rest after offloading their catch in the port of Granville, as authorities had requested the boat move on immediately owing to Covid rules. Ports of Jersey, which carried out the inquiry, also found that the vessel was not fitted with a ‘bridge navigational watch alert system’ which would have forced the deckhand at the helm to acknowledge a series of visual and audible signals. Under such a system, the skipper would be woken if this was not done. This was fitted after the incident. An echo sounder, which could have alerted the crew to a minimum water depth, was also not set. On May 12 the 'L’Ecume II' had left port at 7.10 a.m. to go fishing. The crew had planned to unload their catch in Granville, the first time they had been able to do so since the onset of the pandemic. The pair had been working on board the boat in port between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. during the four previous days. Fishing began at 9.20 a.m. around Jersey and continued until 5.20 p.m. on May 13. At 9 p.m., the crew spent two hours offloading their catch in Granville and then immediately departed for St Helier. While passing east of Chausey, the deckhand took command of the vessel, telling the skipper he was sufficiently well rested to be able to do so, and the skipper went to his cabin to sleep. The report added that, while on duty, the deck hand conducted rounds of the various rooms within the vessel, made himself a cup of tea, took two painkillers for a bad back and watched ‘a few YouTube videos’. Investigators were told by the deck hand that his last recollection was seeing that there were 28 minutes of the journey left. His next memory was waking in the wheelhouse with the vessel having run aground at Belcroute Bay. It was estimated that between leaving St Helier and arriving in Granville, the longest period of continuous rest he had was less than 3½ hours. Following the grounding, the skipper awoke and tried to manoeuvre the vessel back into deeper water without success. He alerted authorities to the incident, warning them that he thought the vessel might not remain upright. With 5,000 litres of marine fuel oil on board, pollution prevention equipment was sent to the scene and an anti-pollution boom was put in place around the vessel. No pollution ensued. Both the Fire and Rescue Service and St Helier RNLI inshore lifeboats were dispatched to the scene and the crew were evacuated from the vessel. With the initial help of Ports of Jersey’s Halcyon workboat, just before 10 a.m., the 'L’Ecume II' was refloated and returned to St Helier. It sustained some minor rudder damage. During subsequent inquiries with the vessel’s skipper about why there were only two crew members on board, the skipper told investigators that there was a lack of crew available, with employment permits for those from outside the EU not being available locally.