The bodies of a British tech tycoon, a Morgan Stanley executive, and five others, including a teenager, have been recovered after the superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily on Aug. 19.
Who Was on Board and Why?
When a storm struck the superyacht Bayesian, off Porticello, near Palermo, around 5 a.m. on Aug. 19, there were 22 people on board: 12 passengers and a crew of 10.The passengers included Mike Lynch, the founder and former CEO of software firm Autonomy, his wife Angela Bacares—who was the Bayesian’s legal owner—and their 18-year-old daughter Hannah.
Lynch had invited some close friends and work colleagues on a boating trip to celebrate his June acquittal in a federal fraud case in California.
He had been cleared of defrauding Hewlett-Packard when he sold Autonomy, a software company he co-founded, to the U.S. computer giant in an $11 billion deal in 2011.
Among the guests on the Bayesian were Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International Bank, his wife Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo—who had been part of Lynch’s defense team at the trial—and his wife Neda.
They all died, as did Lynch and the boat’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, an Antiguan-Canadian national.
Lynch’s daughter remains missing, but his wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued, along with 14 others, including a one-year-old child who made it onto a lifeboat.
What Happened in the Early Hours of Monday?
The Bayesian set out from the port of Milazzo, near Messina in eastern Sicily, on Aug. 14, sailing around the Aeolian Islands and past the picturesque village of Cefalu.By the night of Aug. 18, it was just off the coast of Palermo in north-west Sicily.
Its sail was down and it was at anchor overnight.
The Italian Coastguard said shipping forecasts had foretold bad weather, but it was worse than predicted.
At around 5 a.m. on Aug. 19, about an hour before sunrise, the Bayesian was buffeted by tremendous winds.
There are unconfirmed reports the Bayesian was also hit by a waterspout.
The Bayesian capsized, falling onto its right, or starboard, side before taking on a huge amount of water and sinking within 16 minutes.
The survivors were able to get out and into the lifeboat but it appears seven people, including Lynch and his daughter, were trapped in the Bayesian as it sank under the surface, eventually coming to rest 160 feet down on the seabed.
Who Designed and Built the Bayesian?
The 184-foot-long Bayesian was built in 2008 by the Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi at its boatyard in Viareggio, near Pisa.It was originally called the Salute but was renamed by Lynch, after the mathematical concept of Bayesian probability which he had studied.
The boat was designed by a Vancouver-based company, founded by New Zealand-born Ron Holland.
According to Ron Holland Design’s website, it was one of 23 vessels he designed and had built by Perini Navi in Viareggio.
It had a 236-foot high mast—reportedly the highest aluminum mast in the world—and a retractable keel, which was designed to increase stability in bad weather.
The Bayesian was managed by Camper & Nicholsons, which has offices in Miami, Monaco, and London.
It had been refitted twice, the last time in 2020, but not by Perini Navi.
What Could Have Happened?
Andrea Ratti, a nautical design professor at Milan Polytechnic University, said the Bayesian could only have sunk so rapidly if it took on huge amounts of water.
He said it was possible a waterspout may have broken one or more portholes, letting in water.
Ratti said the very tall mast would not, by itself, make the vessel vulnerable.
The retractable keel had a maximum depth of 33 feet, but if it was partially elevated at 13 feet, Ratti said the boat could have become unstable and moved, “like a pendulum” in the strong wind.
Structural engineer Filippo Mattioni said an open hatch might have let in fatal amounts of water.
But only one-half of the hull was visible to divers.
The Sir Robert Baden Powell, a vessel anchored nearby, weathered the storm after its captain turned on the engine to keep control of the vessel.
Its captain, Karsten Borner, said of the Bayesian’s crew, “I don’t think they did things wrong, I think they were surprised by the power of the storm.”
Giovanni Costantino, CEO of Perini Navi’s parent company, The Italian Sea Group, said: “The boat suffered a series of indescribable, unreasonable errors.”
“The impossible happened on that boat ... but it went down because it took on water. From where, the investigators will tell,” he added.
Costantino blamed the crew for the “incredible mistake” of not being prepared for the storm.
He said passengers should have been brought up on deck, with their lifebelts on, while the crew pulled up the anchor, closed all doors and hatches, and lowered the keel to its full extent.
Will There Be an Investigation?
Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation into the disaster but their probe is expected to take months.Four investigators from Britain’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) flew to Sicily earlier this week and are conducting their own assessment as the Bayesian was a British-flagged vessel, with a home port of London.
Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, said a decision on whether to raise the sunken yacht from the seabed was “not on the agenda,” but would be in the future.
