The two vessels are in markedly different shape, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
The salvage of two fishing vessels, Maggie Band Pere Charles,off the southeast coast actually began a month ago, with a number of dives to prepare the hulls for lifting from the seabed.
A team of 10 to 12 divers working with Irish Diving Contractors Ltd has been assessing the state of the two hulls and preparing both for lifting when weather forecasts proved favourable.
The condition of the Maggie B, which was being raised last night by a 400-tonne Dutch crane barge, has been described as relatively good. It sank with the loss of two of its three crew on board in late March 2006 some five miles south of Hook Head.
Since then, there has been no sign of the bodies of its skipper, Glynn Cott from Ballycotton, Co Cork, and Polish crewman Jan Sankowski.
However, the Pere Charleshas sustained considerable damage to its hull, even though it is less than two miles away from the second vessel.
Not one of the bodies of the five men on board - skipper Tomaisin Hennessy, his uncle Pat Hennessy, Billy O'Connor, Pat Coady and Ukrainian national Andriy Dyrin - have been found since its sinking two miles south of Hook Head in January of this year.
The Dutch barge fitted with lifting derricks fore and aft arrived into Dunmore East, Co Waterford, from Rotterdam at the weekend, and moved out on station to the Maggie Bsite yesterday afternoon.
Mick McGarry of the Irish Coast Guard said he anticipated a "long night". The salvors had already attached strops or slings to the vessel last week, and the diving team descended yesterday to attach the strop cable to the crane and monitor progress as the vessel was hoisted from the seabed some 47 metres below.
Mr McGarry said that the vessel would be partially lifted, moved to shallower water, and then lifted further and pumped out. The Garda Water Unit would be on hand to examine the hull, which would be secured to the barge.
Irish Diving Contractors Ltd have been asked to bring both vessels to Arklow, Co Wicklow, and it was anticipated that the barge would remain in the area and attempt to lift the second vessel before heading north.
However, salvaging the Pere Charlessome 34 metres below is estimated to be a far more difficult operation, given the condition of the vessel - upturned on the seabed.
These events mark the culmination of a long campaign by the families of the seven men lost in the two sinkings.