The family of a chef who died aboard the doomed superyacht Bayesian is seeking ‘justice’ for his death – and could be in line for a $40 million compensation payout.
Canadian Antiguan Recaldo Thomas, 59, was among seven people who drowned when the yacht owned by British tech billionaire Mike Lynch went down in a violent storm off the coast of Sicily last summer.
Mr Lynch and his daughter Hannah, 18, were also among the victims, and an interim report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch last week highlighted design flaws in the yacht and crew response as possible factors in the sinking.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Recaldo’s sister-in-law Joycelyn Palmer, who is executor of his estate, said: ’We just want justice and yes, we will be looking at compensation, someone must pay for what happened.
‘We all knew Recaldo as Rick, and he was a lovely, lovely man with a heart of gold, and his smile would light up the room, I never heard him say he’d had a bad day, and he loved working on yachts, he was at sea for more than 30 years.
‘He was friendly and endearing, and he was such a positive person, full of goodness, and when he died, it was a terrible shock for all of us, and it still upsets us to talk about it because he didn’t need to die.
‘It took us six weeks to get his body back, and because of that, we had to have a closed casket, and we couldn’t even say goodbye properly; it hurt all of us really badly.’
Last week’s MAIB report said the £30 million yacht was doomed after it was hit by 80.6mph winds, causing it to tilt violently on its side, and it was unable to straighten as the freak storm hit off the coast of Porticello on August 19.
Canadian Antiguan Recaldo Thomas, 59, was among seven people who drowned when the yacht owned by British tech billionaire Mike Lynch went down in a violent storm off the coast of Sicily last summer
The family of the chef is now seeking ‘justice’ for his death – and could be in line for a $40 million compensation payout
An undated photo of the tragic yacht
The report highlighted how the keel had not been lowered and that ‘vulnerabilities’ in the yacht’s stability had not been highlighted in the 184ft Bayesian’s information manual carried onboard.
But Mrs Palmer, who lives in Antigua, has also questioned whether the yacht’s 236ft-tall mast also played a part in the yacht sinking in just 16 minutes after it was hit by a freak storm with 70 knot winds.
Sharing pictures of Recaldo on the Bayesian taken just hours before he died, she said: ’I looked up the yacht and when I saw the mast I just thought that must have something to do with what happened. You can even see it in one of the last pictures he sent us.
‘But I think that was one of many factors, were the manufacturers aware of what the mast might do because once the yacht tilted? There was nothing that could be done.’
‘Also, the crew were definitely at fault; they seem to have taken the weather report for granted, and as a result, didn’t act on time. One guy filmed the storm as it approached and put it on social media.
‘The crew didn’t alert the captain until it was too late, so they were negligent, and then the manufacturers don’t appear to have been aware of the safety issues.
‘The more I read about it, the more upset I get because it looks as if a number of circumstances all came together and it cost my brother-in-law his life.
‘Any compensation is going to be handled by our lawyers, and anything we get will go towards creating a legacy for Rick in Antigua, where he lived, and to celebrate his life.
‘To know he has gone has been really rough. I cope by thinking he is away on one of his voyages.’
The tragedy last August killed seven people including the owner of the superyacht British billionaire and tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah
Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife Judy, 71, from Kent, were among the seven people who died when the 56-meter sailing boat sank
Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo were killed when the yacht was hit by a storm
The moment the doomed Bayesian sank in the early hours of August 19 was captured by security cameras of a nearby villa on the coast
Lawyer James Healy-Pratt, who is representing the family, said: ’They have serious concerns about a series of failures evidently involved in the causes of this tragedy.
‘These include failures in design, safety certificates, the seaworthiness of the yacht, and the actions of some of the crew during the storm.
‘The mast had a longer wingspan than a jumbo and would have acted as an aerofoil in a storm.’
Mr Healy-Pratt added they were looking at a ‘US lawsuit against various entities’ in the future and ‘$40 million pay-out would not be out of the question for an emotional loss’.
He added: ‘Those entities include the American Bureau of Shipping, Camper and Nicholsons, who managed the yacht and Angela Bacares, Mr Lynch’s wife.’
Mrs Bacares survived the sinking, and Mr Healy-Pratt said the family noted she was ‘up on deck when a number of questionable decisions were being made by the crew’.
He highlighted how a recent lawsuit in New York had paid out $90 million to relatives of the man killed in a 2018 helicopter crash.
Italian Sea Group, which bought Perini Navi, which built the Bayesian, has insisted the yacht ‘was unsinkable’ and declined to comment following the MAIB report.
The Bayesian sank in just 16 minutes after being hit by the violent ‘mesocyclonic storm front’ which has violent downdrafts and surface winds over 100mph (87 knots).
In its report, the MAIB said the captain and crew would have had no idea of the yacht’s vulnerabilities as they were not laid out in the stability information booklet onboard.
Salvage crews had hoped to raise the Bayesian – which is lying 160ft below the surface – this weekend, but the death nine days ago of a Dutch diver has delayed the £20 million operation until later this month.
