“I woke up the captain when the wind was 20 knots. He gave the order to wake up everyone else. I then put away the cushions and plants, closed the windows of the bow lounge and some hatches”. This is the story told to investigators, according to what ANSA has learned, of Matthew Griffithsthe sailor who was on watch on the bridge of the Bayesian on the night of the storm, the sailing ship sank on August 19 in the sea of Porticello, in the Palermo area.
Griffiths, defended by lawyers Mario Scopesi and Corrado Bregante who also assisted the engineer officer Tim Parker Eaton, had been heard as a person informed of the facts. The sailor would not have spoken about the hatches, which were not his responsibility.
“The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to get back on board and tried to save those we could,” Griffiths continued. “The boat was tilting,” the sailor said, “and we were walking on the walls. We saved who we could, even Cutfield saved the little girl and her mother.”
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