Maritime record MWX5052 - Farnienet

A sailing yacht with auxiliary engine, lost off Portland Bill in 1974 (1)

'Weymouth lifeboat was launched to assist capsized catamaran [trimaran?] off Portland Bill; three survivors were lifted by naval helicopter. Two outer hulls picked up by M H frigate WHITBY and landed at Torquay; main centre hull picked up by Trinity House tender SIREN.' (2)

Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles: Western Morning News (no date given).

The fact that the source also gives the vessel type as yacht, with sail as propulsion method, suggests that the FARNIENET could have been a sail-assisted catamaran, and thus probably a leisure craft.

Nothing further is known about the vessel.

The building date for this vessel is an estimate based on an average age at wrecking of twenty years. This average is derived from those vessels wrecked on the Dorset coast whose age at wrecking is known.

<1> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, 1023 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<2> Larn, R, and Larn, B, 1995, Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 1 : Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset Section 6, Dorset (AJ) Vol 1 (Monograph). SWX4541.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1521316 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 22 2024 3:07PM