The Department of the Marine was urged yesterday to investigate the impact of Stena Line's HSS ferry on wave formations in Dublin Bay to establish if there is a danger to bathers.
The call came at the inquest of a Dublin man who drowned while swimming near Dun Laoghaire harbour last October.
Returning a verdict of accidental death by drowning in the case of Mr William Wyse (61) of Clonkeen Crescent, Deansgrange, the jury at the Dublin County Coroner's Court said there should be further tests in different weather conditions to establish whether the catamaran ferry or other vessels posed a threat to swimmers in the area.
An experienced swimmer, Mr Wyse had been bathing with a friend at the Forty-foot in Sandycove at 6.30 a.m. on October 19th when he was swept away by a large wave.
Capt John Garner, Stena Line's operations manager at Holyhead, said the HSS ferry arrived at Dun Laoghaire harbour at 6.45 a.m., three-quarters of an hour later than scheduled. He said that while turning in the bay the ship began to pick up speed due to strong waves. As a result, it breached the normal safety limit of 20 knots by up to 7 knots.
He said the ship started to speed up without the captain "physically changing any of the settings and as soon as he realised his speed was increasing he reduced it after about one or two minutes".
Capt Robert Wiltshire, Dublin Port's harbour master, said permission had been given to the ship to maintain its speed to avoid heavy rolling.
He said he had studied the effects of the HSS on wave patterns with a group of Swedish experts commissioned by Stena when the vessel was launched in 1996. He said they found the ferry caused turbulence at the edge of the water or "a rippling effect but nothing you could describe as a wave".
Spin-off problems on wave patterns from the HSS had "diminished enormously", he added, following the introduction of speed controls for the vessel.
The Dublin County Coroner, Dr Bartley Sheehan, supported the jury's recommendation for an urgent examination of the impact of the ferry on wave patterns.
