The Tom Crean's crew has abandoned ship. Paddy Barry, Jamie Young, Frank Nugent, Jarlath Cunnane and Mike Barry are now all on board Pelagic.

The decision was made yesterday January 25th. At 1020 local the Tom Crean called Pelagic, outside normal radio schedule, and told us of their unanimous conclusion. At that stage we were in the middle of a gale with wind of sustained 40 to 50 knots and gusting 60. (Force 9- 10). We knew yesterday the Tom Crean had rolled over 170 degrees once but after the rescue we found out from their accounts it actually happened 3 times in less than 24 hours. After this experience and receiving the weather prognosis from Skip (a number of bad storms coming up in the area), the 5 Irishmen had no doubts about their decision.

Last evening at dusk Pelagic was able to motor up against the wind and we had our first visual contact with the Creans crew since the storm began. There was a lull in the wind, but it was getting dark and the swell was still big enough to make a transfer hazardous, so we decided to wait for daybreak.

At 0300 am, Pelagic set course to go and meet the Crean once again. Pelagics dinghy was blown up and made 3 runs to the Crean. The 5 men were brought on board safely with most of their gear. The Tom Crean is slowly sinking in the Scotia Sea, somewhere between South Georgia and the South Orkney islands. More details to come.

Elena Caputo