Ten months after it mysteriously sank off the coast of Sicily, the luxury superyacht Bayesian, owned by late British tech billionaire Mike Lynch, has finally been recovered from the seabed.
Using one of Europe’s most powerful floating cranes, salvage experts successfully lifted the 56-meter (184-foot) yacht from a depth of 50 meters early Saturday morning. The operation began at first light near the coastal town of Porticello, Italy.
The Bayesian had been resting on the seafloor since August 2024, after a sudden storm capsized the vessel during a family voyage. The tragedy claimed the lives of Mike Lynch, his teenage daughter Hannah, and five others, including prominent lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and onboard chef Recaldo Thomas. Miraculously, nine crew members and six other guests were rescued.
Photos from the scene show the yacht’s upper decks severely damaged, its once sleek blue hull now coated in mud. The wreckage was surrounded by pollution control booms as the salvage team from British firm TMC Marine pumped seawater out of the vessel.
“This was a complex and meticulously planned lifting operation,” said Marcus Cave, Director at TMC Marine. “Every step was executed with precision to safely recover the yacht and preserve potential forensic clues.”
The storm that led to the disaster featured violent gusts exceeding 117 km/h (73 mph), which likely overwhelmed the yacht, according to an interim British report released last month. At the time of the incident, the Bayesian was moored off Porticello, a fishing village near Palermo, and may have been particularly vulnerable to high winds due to its exposed position.
The yacht’s towering 72-meter mast had to be removed earlier this week to simplify the lift. Using a remote-controlled cutting tool, salvage crews detached the mast and left it temporarily on the seabed.
Authorities plan to transport the yacht to the nearby port of Termini Imerese on Sunday, where it will be placed on a custom-built steel cradle for thorough inspection beginning Monday. Italian investigators hope the forensic analysis will provide much-needed answers about what caused the sudden sinking of a vessel that had passed all safety checks prior to the voyage.
The yacht’s dramatic recovery has drawn global attention, both for the high-profile lives lost and the unresolved questions surrounding the incident. Lynch, best known as the founder of Autonomy, was one of the UK’s most influential tech figures. His death came just months after a high-profile legal battle in the United States.
As the Bayesian is brought ashore, the world will be watching closely to see what investigators uncover—and whether the mystery behind the tragedy at sea can finally be solved.
