Trawler moved to new berth

The trawler was damaged when she sank

The Guernsey-registered trawler the Chelaris J has been re-floated and moved to a berth in St Sampson's harbour after being in dry dock.

The operation was carried out at high tide on Monday morning.

The 55-foot vessel sank in October with the loss of four lives, including local skipper Martyn Lane and three French fishermen.

The move will allow detailed survey work to be carried out on the vessel in an attempt to determine the cause of the accident.

Marine accident investigators can carry out some further trials on the vessel Captain Robert Barton, Guernsey Harbourmaster

Guernsey's Harbourmaster, Captain Robert Barton, said the next stage of the investigation will now begin.

He said: "She's now completely watertight and was moved to a different berth so marine accident investigators can carry out some further trials on the vessel.

"They will be carrying out a stability test of the vessel and a very detailed survey of her.

"We have to, as part of any investigation of this nature, just reconfirm the stability characteristics of the vessel.

"The vessel will be inclined using weights, then investigators can use computers to refigure her weight configuration and see what went wrong."

Captain Barton said the vessel was likely to stay in Guernsey for the next few months and investigators would keep visiting the island to carry out their work.

If there was any attempt to move her elsewhere, Captain Barton said the Chelaris would have to be the subject of another survey to ensure she was seaworthy for a cross-channel tow.