On Saturday morning, around 7.30am, Captain Tom Mattoon of Serenity II was on watch in his bridge, going about his usual business when he noticed a tower of smoke emerging from the fly bridge of XTC Of London, a 20-metre yacht moored two berths down from his in the H Dock of Port Vell in Barcelona. He immediately alerted his First Mate Brad Haager and the two men ran to raise the crew of the inferno-consumed yacht. No alarms were sounding on XTC Of London according to Hattoon and the crew were still asleep - had he not seen the smoke then it could be a far more grave story to report. Luckily they all escaped via the aft exit whilst the upper and fore areas of the motor yacht billowed great towers of thick, black smoke and enormous flames.

The fire spread quickly to the adjacent vessels to two motor yachts with no crew on board, including Bertona between XTC Of London and Serenity II, and a sail boat with two crew which was unable to start its engine and so the crew decided to abandon it, according to Mattoon. He and Haager alerted the marina officials to the blaze and fire boats arrived within ten minutes. Neighbouring moored yachts cast off and moved away from the incident to avoid being caught up in the accident, including Drumfire (whose Captain first knew about the fire when he became aware that his vessel had been cast off while he was asleep, according to Mattoon), Opium and Serenity II. Luckily the wind was blowing away from the dock, preventing the fire from spreading towards onlookers and other vessels.

No-one was hurt in the blaze, but it could have been a different story without the quick thinking of nearby yachtsmen whose communication and speed no doubt saved lives. A story that should be taken in by yachtsmen the world over, Mattoon warns, "Owners [and their Captains- Ed.] need to have a professional crew, maintain their alarm systems regularly and get the best equipment possible.... don't assume you will get out."

This incident follows the destruction of the 94-foot cruising sloop Keturah, which was consumed by a fire in the engine room a few days ago in Antigua.

Thank you to Peter Petrowski and Willem Jobse from Ponsec who sent in these photos - we will be receiving a video from Captain Tom Mattoon in the next couple of days.

































The fire started at 7.30am when many of the people in Port Vell were still asleep




































The tower of black smoke from the blaze


































The four yachts that caught fire




































A Dockside view of the towering inferno and billowing black smoke




































Fire boats put out the flames but four yachts were already destroyed, with the yacht in the middle (dark hull) seen here being damaged by the smoke.