RTÉ said last night that the makers of the series Cabin Fever have found a replacement ship for the sailing vessel which sank on rocks off Tory Island yesterday.
Nine contestants aboard the 90-foot schooner had to be rescued, most by an Air Corps helicopter, when it ran onto a reef off the County Donegal island.
Tomorrow's episode, filmed before the wrecking of the ship, will be broadcast at 8.30 p.m. One contestant is voted out by the public and must walk the plank each week.
The alarm was raised at 1.30 p.m. when the crew sent out a distress call after running onto the Rinnamorreeny reef, about 100 metres off Tory Island. Tory Island coastguard sent an Air Corp helicopter and the Aran Mór lifeboat out to rescue the contestants.
Four men, including the skipper and sailing master, remained on the ship trying to pump out water until 4.30 p.m. "Three of them were taken away by helicopter and one of them decided to swim ashore then," said a Coast Guard spokesman.
The Aran Mór lifeboat attempted to pull the ship off the rocks and two portable pumps were dropped on to the ship from an Air Corps rescue helicopter, but the ship could not be saved. The Cabin Fever I was completely sunk by 6 p.m.
A spokeswoman for Coco Productions, the TV production company which is filming the series for RTÉ, said all nine contestants were safely ashore on Tory Island where they stayed last night. "We very much regret what has happened but in terms of the welfare of the people and the show, nothing is unsolveable" she said. "The series will continue but in what format is difficult to say just yet" she added.
RTE said the skipper of Cabin Fever I, Mr Peter Culleton, was the holder of a Masters Mariner licence and an experienced sailer.
Mr Rodger Barton, owner of the vessel, previously called Carrie of Camaret, was the sailing master, the skipper's second-in-command. "Rodger is devastated. He lived on the boat and used to charter it," said a Coco TV spokeswoman.
"It's a very sad day for him, wherever he went, the boat went," she said. The boat was built in France in 1947 and took months to source, she added.
Ms Clare Duignan, RTÉ's Director of Programmes, said: "We are greatly relieved that all the cast and crew are safe and sound. Any programming considerations are absolutely secondary to that."
RTÉ said that "all measures were taken to ensure the safety of the contestants and crew throughout the preparation for and filming of the series". Contestants wore lifejackets and had been granted the 'Sea and Safety Survival Certification' by the Department of the Marine.
The ship was carrying 10 contestants around the coast of Ireland for eight weeks as they compete for a cash prize. Producers billed it as the biggest television event in Ireland this summer.
A Coco TV spokeswoman confirmed they had found an alternative ship and that the next episode of the series will be broadcast, as scheduled, on Sunday at 8.20 p.m. However, a live broadcast from Sligo next Monday is in doubt. "That is under review, a decision will be made over the weekend," she said.
Executive producers from RTÉ and Coco TV arrived in the area last night to ascertain the damage. Inspectors from the Marine Surveyor's Office are expected at the scene today to begin investigations. It is not known yet how the ship ran aground but the rocks on which it sank would have been marked in navigation maps according to Malin Head Coast Guard.
The situation would have been far more serious if the incident had happened earlier in the week when there were strong winds and stormy seas.
Local man Patsy Dan Rodgers said last night: "They can all thank God. If it had happened the day before, it would have been a different story. Yesterday was the best day we have had for some time." In another stroke of good luck, the Air Corp helicopter at the scene was co-incidentally taking off to head for Tory Island when the alert was received.