The late 19th-century Galway hooker which sank at the weekend during the Cruinniú na nBád festival in Kinvara, Co Galway, was re-floated successfully last night.
The crew of 11 of the Morning Star were rescued in the incident near Traught beach in Kinvara on Sunday, while two sailors were also taken ashore safely by the Clifden lifeboat in a separate sinking off the Connemara coastline.
The rescue at Kinvara went "like clockwork", according to spokesman Dr Michael Brogan, but one of 11 automatically-inflating lifejackets worn by the crew failed to activate in the water.
Skipper Johnny Healion, who was wearing the faulty lifejacket, managed to stay with the vessel and he was taken ashore by one of two festival rescue boats in several minutes.
The 38-foot Morning Star, which was built in Kinvara about 1890, was taking part in a race during the Cruinniú na nBád festival when it listed in a north-westerly wind and began to take in water.
Its skipper and owner Johnny Healion was instrumental in the revival of interest in the traditional working boats.
Within two years of the Morning Star's return to the west coast, the Galway Hooker Association had been founded in Carraroe - one of the last Connemara communities to trade turf on hookers with the west coast islands.
The vessel's mast and ballast were removed by divers yesterday and flotation from mussel rafts will be used to refloat the hull.
