An American philanthropist with a taste for Irish whiskey has stepped in to support the salvage operation to recover Gregor McGuckin’s yacht Hanley Energy Endurance drifting some 1,200 miles west of Perth, Australia.
Speaking from Fremantle overnight, American tug boat skipper Cody Cordwainer, who is leading the salvage operation said: “Its taking longer than expected. The 60ft sloop we had planned to use has structural problems that are too expensive to repair, so we are back to square one looking for a suitable ocean-going boat.
The good news is that an American philanthropist has donated a large chunk of the salvage costs in exchange for the barrel of Glendalough 7-year-old 777 single malt whiskey still onboard and the Distillery has agreed to this.
We have made a lot of contacts here and are looking at two avenues: Finding someone with an ocean-going boat having trouble meeting their monthly slip payments who could use the extra cash, or someone with a boat that they want to make ocean-going, and we can do that for them.
I’m certain this is going to happen. We are going to make it happen and I’m not going home until we do.”
