When TG4 commissioned fishermen Micheál Conneely to make a documentary on an Aran island fleet’s winter pursuit of mackerel, it never expected the footage would include a dramatic sinking.
Nor did Conneely (33) expect he would be plucked from the sea off the Scottish coast by a British Coastguard helicopter.
The Stornoway helicopter's rescue of Conneely, his father Mairtín "20" Ó Conghaíle of Inis Mór and three fellow crew from the Iúda Naofa in late January is one of the highlights of Snámh in Aghaidh Easa (Swimming Against the Current), the documentary due to be broadcast on TG4 on Sunday.
Conneely, a former secondary school teacher who spent several years working in forestry in Canada, has worked as deckhand on his father’s 23m boat, skippered by his brother Mairtín Éanna.
“I completed a masters in communication at NUI Galway’s Acadamh in Carraroe, Co Galway,and film was part of my thesis,” he said.
He worked with Meangadh Fibín on a pitch to TG4 to document the winter pursuit by Aran boats of mackerel, a lucrative migratory fish which has its richest oil content when further north.
This requires steaming up to the top of Scotland, frequently during severe weather conditions, and using the challenging technique of pair trawling, where two boats combine their power to tow the net.
Killer whales, dolphins, porpoises, the hazards of working on deck and the beauty of a sunrise on the Porcupine Basin are among images captured by Conneely during 10 days of filming at sea.
He interviewed the skippers of three accompanying Aran boats - the Star of Hope, Oileán an Óir and Glór na dTonn - along with his brother.
“Salt is in our blood,” explained Máirtín Éanna.
The unsocial nature of the work and the bonds which form between the crew, including a Romanian national, are depicted in the documentary which charts the long three-day steam from Ros-a-Mhíl, where Aran boats are based, up to the Shetlands before a net is shot.
Towering over the Aran boats and similar Scottish vessels are large supertrawlers on the horizon - similar in size to the Dutch supertrawlers Annelies Ilena and Margiris, which are currently fishing in Irish waters with no permanent independent observation of their fishing practices and by-catch.
On January 20th, the Iúda Naofa began taking in water about 80km north of the Butt of Lewis, and called the British coastguard on VHF radio for assistance.
“It wasn’t a Mayday at that stage, as we thought if we got a pump on board we’d sort it,”recalled Conneely. However, his dad and four crew put their immersion suits and lifejackets on.
The helicopter was on scene in 45 minutes, but by then the vessel had started to list.
“We gathered at the stern, and my father was thrown back by a wave and I just managed to catch him,” said Conneely. “When we were in the water, we had a rope tangled around us, which I had to free - if it was attached to the boat, we’d be gone, but once I had untangled it I knew we would be okay.”
It took just 35 seconds for the seas to envelope the hull - an image captured by the helicopter, and one which his father still cannot bear to watch.
“The boat was like his sixth child - and the first he actually owned - so it’s a big loss for him, even though we were all saved,”said Conneely.
Standing by was the Star of Hope, skippered by Mike "Twin" Ó Fatharta, which had been pair trawling with the Iúda Naofa and which took two of the crew. Three were airlifted to the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway.
“So if the helicopter didn’t reach us, we knew that Mike would,”Conneely said.
Weather conditions were difficult at the time, according to British Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) duty watch manager Paul Tunstall, with “very rough seas” and southerly force 6 winds.
Fortunately, Conneely had already recorded most of his footage before the sinking, and the British MCA supplied him with the rescue material.
“One of the helicopter winchman told me it was the first time in 14 years he had actually seen a boat go under, as usually the rescue crew arrive after that has occurred,”he said.
Conneely was out surfing a week later, and went back to sea to finish his documentary. He is hoping to complete more work on a marine theme - well aware of the popularity of Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch and BBC's Trawlermen - but without too many more unscheduled encounters with coastguard rescue crews.
Snamh in Aghaidh Easa/Swimming Against the Current will be broadcast as part of the Cogar series on TG4 on Sunday, November 29th at 9.30pm.
