No one was injured when Sunsail’s Francelina ran aground Friday afternoon near Beef Island, but the charter sailboat sustained substantial damage, said Kevin Rowlette of Husky Salvage and Towing.
“The boat got hulled very badly very quickly,” Mr. Rowlette said this week. Salvage workers were at the site most of the weekend, he added.
Late Friday when the work started, “there was no certainty we were going to be able to get it patched and float it out,” he said, adding that since it was getting dark and that portion of Beef Island is exposed to rough seas, there wasn’t much they could do that night.
On Saturday, an excavator joined the team working on Beef Island, rolling Francelina onto its side so that its hull could be patched.
To get closer to the boat, the excavator constructed a short groin from the rock and dead coral that lines the shore in the area.
By the end of the day, the salvagers were able to tow the boat off the rocks and coral.
See the June 20, 2013 edition for full coverage.