August 18 – PM: The Bayesian was anchored at Cefalù on the northern coast of Sicily to shelter from the forecast weather and to allow for easy disembarkation of guests the following day.
August 19 – 00.30am: Having checked the weather the captain and the last guest had retired, leaving deckhand (DH1) and the evening steward (S1) on duty.
01.00am: The second deckhand (DH2) took over the watch. The wind at this time was noted as being no more than 8kts (9.2pmh).
03.00am: DH2 noted the wind as being at 8kts (9.2pmh) from the west but thought that the thunderclouds and lightning seemed to be getting closer.
03.55am: The deckhand ‘videoed the advancing storm and posted it to their social media feed’ before closing the hatches and cockpit windows.
03.57am: The winds had picked up to 30kts (35mph) and the Bayesian was listing and dragging its anchor.
04.00am: The deckhand ran to wake up the skipper and the crew leapt into action and began preparing to manoeuvre the Bayesian by starting the generators and steering pumps.
The rest of the crew, woken by either the captain or the yacht’s change of motion, got up and made their way out of the crew accommodation.
Chef Recaldo Thomas was spotted in the galley stowing cutlery, pots and pan and called out ‘Good morning!’ to nearby stewards.
The Bayesian was lying with the wind about 60 degree off the port bow and moving at 1.8kts south-south-east of its original position.
Two guests – a British couple – had been woken by the movements and decided to head to the saloon with their baby.
4.06am: Disaster struck as the wind suddenly increased to more than 70kts (80.5mph) ripping the awning away. The Bayesian ‘violently heeled over’ in less than 15 seconds to a 90-degree angle.
The sudden movement sent people as well as furniture flying across the deck leaving five people including the captain injured while a deckhand was thrown into the sea.
Two guests trapped in their cabin were forced to used furniture drawers as an improvised ladder to escape into the saloon area.
The yacht’s crew were able to push four guests through the cascading water up to the skipper on the flying bridge.
The captain called for the guests and crew to swim clear of the mast and boom as the vessel sank.
04.22am: The crew had launched the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB). They noted that the wind had eased and that Bayesian was only a short distance from shore.
In the water, a deckhand(DH2) improvised a tourniquet for one of the guest’s gashed arm while a cushion was used as a flotation device foe the baby. Some of the survivors were treading water and others held on to some cushions that had floated free from Bayesian.
One of the guests frantically searched for other survivors in vain using the torch from their phone – while the captain and chief officer frantically freed the life raft from the sinking wreck.
04.24am: The captain and chief officer frantically freed the life raft from the sinking wreck. It was was inflated and the survivors were able to get inside it where the crew began administering first aid.
The skipper tried to raise the alarm by shouting at and then paddling towards the nearby vessel the Sir Robert Baden Powell.
04.34am: The Chief Engineer fired a red parachute flare from the life raft. Despite the winds being calm at the surface, the flare was carried sideways. He then used the life raft’s torch to signal towards a hotel on the cliffs above them, passing cars, and Sir Robert Baden Powell.
04.43am: The Chief engineer fired a second parachute flare that was seen by the crew of Sir Robert Baden Powell. Responding to the flare, the skipper dispatched its tender towards the visible lights of the EPIRB and life raft.
04.53am: The tender carrying the 15 survivors returned to Sir Robert Baden Powell and a brief search was look for the missing seven people who were also on board.
04.56am: The tender from Sir Robert Baden Powell returned to the scene with Bayesian’s Chief Engineer and skipper on board to search for other survivors. The local coastguard was called to arrange to transfer the survivors to shore.