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Motor Yacht

Zeus is a custom motor yacht launched in 1991 by Blohm + Voss in Hamburg, Germany and most recently refitted in 2009.

Blohm + Voss is an innovative German shipyard specializing in the construction of naval vessels and technically sophisticated megayachts from building facilities in Hamburg including repairs, refits, and modification of such vessels as well as merchant ships.

Zeus measures 74.50 metres in length, with a max draft of 3.20 metres and a beam of 11.20 metres. She has a gross tonnage of 1,150 tonnes. She has a deck material of teak.

Zeus has a steel hull with a GRP superstructure.

Martin Francis is an accomplished British designer and architect with decades of experience working on some of the most iconic yachts on the water.

Zeus also features naval architecture by Blohm + Voss and Francis Design.

Performance and Capabilities

Zeus has a top speed of 35.00 knots and a cruising speed of 28.00 knots. She is powered by a 2 x kamewa 112s & 1 x kamewa 160b waterjets propulsion system.

Zeus has a fuel capacity of 238,000 litres, and a water capacity of 38,000 litres.

She also has a range of 4,000 nautical miles.

Accommodation

Zeus accommodates up to 14 guests in 6 cabins. She also houses room for up to 19 crew members.

Other Specifications

Zeus has a hull NB of 956.

Zeus is a LR class yacht. She flies the flag of st vincent and the grenadines.

• Yacht Builder Blohm + Voss No profile available
• Exterior Designer Francis Design View profile
• Interior Designer Francis Design View profile

Yacht Specs

Other blohm + voss yachts, related news.

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ZEUS is a 74.5 m Motor Yacht, built in Germany by Blohm & Voss and delivered in 1991.

Her top speed is 36.0 kn, her cruising speed is 28.0 kn, and she boasts a maximum cruising range of 2200.0 nm at 18.0 kn, with power coming from a General Electric gas turbine engine. She can accommodate up to 15 guests in 6 staterooms, with 21 crew members. She has a gross tonnage of 1150.0 GT and a 11.22 m beam.

She was designed by Martin Francis , who has designed 12 other superyachts in the BOAT Pro database.

The naval architecture was developed by Blohm & Voss , who has architected 8 other superyachts in the BOAT Pro database, and the interior of the yacht was designed by Francois Zuretti (204 other superyacht interiors designed) and Martin Francis (2 other superyacht interiors designed) - she is built with a Teak deck, a Steel hull, and GRP superstructure.

ZEUS is in the top 5% by LOA and in the top 10% by speed in the world. She is one of 120 motor yachts in the 70-80m size range, and, compared to similarly sized motor yachts, her cruising speed is 13.31 kn above the average, and her top speed 18.23 kn above the average.

ZEUS is currently sailing under the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines flag (along with a total of other 120 yachts). She is currently located at the superyacht marina Port Hercule de Monaco, in Monaco, where she has been located for 4 days. For more information regarding ZEUS's movements, find out more about BOATPro AIS .

Specifications

• Previous Names: ECO,KATANA,ENIGMA
• Yacht Type: Motor Yacht
• Yacht Subtype: Displacement
• Builder: Blohm & Voss
• Naval Architect: Blohm & Voss
• Exterior Designer: Martin Francis
• Interior Designer: Martin Francis , Francois Zuretti
• Refits: 1999,2004

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ZEUS Yacht – Harmonious $50M Superyacht

ZEUS yacht is a 74-meter yacht that can accommodate up to 15 guests using her six cabins and fit up to 21 onboard qualified crew members in her nine spacious cabins.

She was built in 1991 by Blohm and Voss and was designed both on the exterior and interior by Francis Design.

She weighs approximately 1,150 tons and can cruise at speeds of 19 knots, and can go to a top speed of 35 knots.

ZEUS yacht interior

Designing the interior of the ZEUS yacht is Francis Design , a design studio led by Martin Francis. A UK-born and raised individual who graduated in Furniture and has since transitioned to yacht interior design.

He started designing yachts back in 1980 and has amassed tons of experience after working on several yacht projects.

One of these is GOLDEN ODYSSEY , a 123-meter superyacht owned by Prince Khaled bin Sultan.

This 400 million US dollar superyacht can welcome 32 guests in 16 cabins and fit 60 qualified crew members in 30 cabins.

She weighs 7,690 tons, can cruise at speeds of 11 knots, and can go to a top speed of 21 knots.

Another is the SENSES yacht, a 59.22-meter yacht capable of welcoming 14 crew members, and ten guests and can go to a top speed of 15 knots.

There is little known information regarding the amenities aboard the ZEUS Yacht, but pictures of her suggest that she has access to a sun deck and an outside dining area.

She can also welcome up to 15 guests using her six cabins with specifications of 1 Master, 1 VIP, and 4 Doubles. Additionally, she can also fit up to 21 qualified onboard crew members.

Specifications

ZEUS yacht spans an overall length of    244.5 feet or 74.5 meters, a beam of 36.9 feet or 11.2 meters, and a draft of 10.6 feet or 3.2 meters.

She is built with a teak deck, a steel hull, and an aluminum superstructure and was completed in 1991 by Blohm and Voss .

She weighs approximately 1,150 tons and is powered by two kamewa 112s mechanical engines that turn her twin screw propulsion systems, capable of outputting 10,010 hp, which enable her to cruise at 19 go to a maximum speed of 35 knots.

ZEUS Yacht is capable of storing 38,000 liters of fresh water and holding 230,000 liters worth of fuel in her fuel tanks which allows her to cover distances of over 4,031 nautical miles.

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ZEUS yacht NOT for charter*

74.5m  /  244'5 | blohm + voss | 1991 / 2009.

Owner & Guests

Cabin Configuration

• Previous Yacht

Special Features:

• Impressive 4,031nm range
• Lloyds Register classification
• Up to 21 crew
• Sleeps 12 overnight

The 74.5m/244'5" motor yacht 'Zeus' (ex. Eco) was built by Blohm + Voss in Germany at their Hamburg shipyard. Her interior is styled by design house Francis Design and she was completed in 1991. This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of Francis Design and she was last refitted in 2009.

Guest Accommodation

Zeus has been designed to comfortably accommodate up to 12 guests in 6 suites comprising one VIP cabin. Additionally, there is a staff cabin on board. She is also capable of carrying up to 21 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.

Range & Performance

Zeus is built with a steel hull and GRP superstructure, with teak decks. Powered by 1 x gas turbine General Electric (Gas Turbine LM 1600) 18,500hp engines, she comfortably cruises at 18 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 32 knots with a range of up to 4,031 nautical miles from her 230,000 litre fuel tanks at 18 knots. Her water tanks store around 38,000 Litres of fresh water. She was built to Lloyds Register classification society rules.

*Charter Zeus Motor Yacht

Motor yacht Zeus is currently not believed to be available for private Charter. To view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting a luxury charter yacht.

Zeus Yacht Owner, Captain or marketing company

'Yacht Charter Fleet' is a free information service, if your yacht is available for charter please contact us with details and photos and we will update our records.

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Specification

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(built as ECO)

Renowned for her futuristic design and fast performance, the yacht ZEUS has become an icon in the yachting community. Her unique superstructure and striking convbuilt as windows make her stand out everywhere she goes. Not just innovative in her exterior design, her gas turbines and diesel engines produce a combined 28,500 horsepower, which propel the yacht via waterjets and an underwater foil to a top speed of 35 knots – the fastest yacht of her size at 74-metres. Vibration-free even at such speeds, ZEUS is a technical masterpiece. Attention to detail can be found everywhere by interior and exterior designer Martin Francis. Delivered in 1991, she is still piercing the waves as gracefully as ever.

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Elon Musk vacationed on a superyacht off the coast of Greece. Here's a closer look at the luxurious boat, which rents for over $7,000 per day.

• Elon Musk was spotted relaxing aboard a superyacht in Mykonos, Greece. 
• The 24-meter luxury vessel, named Zeus, can be chartered for over $7,000 a day. 
• Musk is famously anti-vacation, but he seemed to make an exception for a day lounging on the yacht.

Elon Musk doesn't vacation often , but when he does, he does it in style. 

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO — who's currently embroiled in a battle over the future of Twitter  — was spotted Sunday aboard a luxury yacht in Mykonos, Greece. Joined by a group of friends that included Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and his fashion-designer wife, Sarah Staudinger, Musk spent the day swimming, sunning himself, drinking cocktails, and even getting hosed down by Emanuel . 

"Haha damn, maybe I should take off my shirt more often," Musk tweeted Tuesday after the photos went viral, adding that he was "already back in the factory." 

—Page Six (@PageSix) July 18, 2022

While Musk famously owns a $70 million private jet , he hasn't sprung for a yacht of his own (unlike his space rival, Jeff Bezos ). Instead, the group chartered the vessel — called Zeus — from SamBoat , a European online boat-rental firm that operates in Greece, Croatia, and Spain, and has plans to expand to the US. 

Here's a peek inside the luxurious superyacht, which rents for over $7,000 a day. 

Zeus is a 24-meter yacht, which is equivalent to about 79 feet. Renting the vessel starts at $7,171.

The yacht has capacity for 20 people and is intended for full-day excursions.

A skipper is included with the rental — the skipper serves as your captain during your trip.

Passengers can swim off the back platform, like Musk did ...

... or lounge with a cocktail on the rear deck.

If guests need a break from the sun, there's room to sit down for a meal inside. And if anyone needs a nap, there are four berths onboard that can sleep up to eight people.

And for anyone looking to explore the turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea, there's snorkeling gear onboard.

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This ship info includes data on what the dimensions are and general vessel particulars, last and next special class survey, who is the owner of the ship zeus , its commercial manager, ism manager, p&i club, classification society, their addresses and contact details and shipyard where it was built as well as statistics for the number of owned and managed ships and companies related thereto..

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Video shows moments before superyacht went down in storm off Sicily

Newly released video captures a luxury superyacht being battered by a violent storm before it suddenly sank off Sicily with 22 people aboard Monday.

The grainy images obtained by NBC News and other outlets were recorded on closed-circuit television not far from where the Bayesian was anchored, about a half-mile from the port of Porticello, on Sicily’s northern coast .

The yacht's 250-foot mast, illuminated with lights and lashed by the storm, appears to bend to one side before it finally disappears and is replaced by darkness.

The speed with which a yacht built to handle the roughest seas capsized stunned maritime experts.  

“I can’t remember the last time I read about a vessel going down quickly like that, you know, completely capsizing and going down that quickly, a vessel of that nature, a yacht of that size,” said Stephen Richter of SAR Marine Consulting.

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and five of the 22 other people who were aboard the 184-foot vessel remain unaccounted for and are believed to be trapped in the Bayesian’s hull, nearly 170 feet underwater.

Officials confirmed Monday that at least one person, the ship’s cook, had died.  

Superyachts like the Bayesian, which had been available for charters at a rate of $215,000 a week, are designed to stay afloat even as they are taking on water to give the people aboard a chance to escape, Richter said. 

“Boats of this size, they’re taking passengers on an excursion or a holiday,” Richter said. “They are not going to put them in situations where it may be dangerous or it may be uncomfortable, so this storm that popped up was obviously an anomaly. These vessels that carry passengers, they’re typically very well-maintained, very well-appointed.”

Built by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi in 2008, the U.K.-registered Bayesian could carry 12 guests and a crew of up to 10, according to online specialist yacht sites. Its nearly 250-foot mast is the tallest aluminum sailing mast in the world, according to CharterWorld Luxury Yacht Charters. 

On Tuesday, Italian rescue workers resumed the search for Lynch and the five other passengers still missing: Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah; Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife.

“The fear is that the bodies got trapped inside the vessel,” Salvatore Cocina, the head of civil protection in Sicily, told Reuters .

The Bayesian is owned by a firm linked to Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who was one of the 15 people rescued Monday after it capsized.

“It’s extremely rare for a boat of this size to sink,” Richter said.

What’s not rare is the kind of storm that sank it , said Simon Boxall, senior lecturer in oceanography at Britain’s University of Southampton.

“People assume the Mediterranean is this rather calm and passive place that never gets storms and always blue skies,” Boxall said. “In fact, you get some quite horrendous storms that are not uncommon at this time of year.”

The president of Italy’s meteorological society has said Monday’s violent storm may have involved a waterspout, essentially a tornado over water, or a downburst, which occurs more frequently but doesn’t involve the rotation of the air.

Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorology Society, also said recent temperatures may have been a factor. 

“The sea surface temperature around Sicily was around 30 degrees Celsius [86 Fahrenheit], which is almost 3 degrees more than normal,” Mercalli told Reuters. “This creates an enormous source of energy that contributes to these storms.”

The Mediterranean sailing vacation was designed to be a celebration for Lynch, who two months ago was acquitted by a San Francisco jury of fraud charges stemming from the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.

Prosecutors alleged that Lynch, dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates,” and Autonomy’s vice president for finance, Stephen Chamberlain, had padded the firm’s finances ahead of the sale. Lynch’s lawyers argued that HP was so eager to acquire Autonomy that it failed to adequately check the books .

Lynch had taken Morvill, who was one of his defense attorneys, on the luxury trip. 

Chamberlain was not on the Bayesian.

In what appears to be a tragic coincidence, a car struck and killed Chamberlain on Saturday as he was jogging in a village about 68 miles north of London, local police said.

“Steve fought successfully to clear his good name at trial earlier this year, and his good name now lives on through his wonderful family,” Chamberlain’s lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, said in a statement .

Henry Austin reported from London and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.

Henry Austin is a senior editor for NBC News Digital based in London.

Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.

Yacht Sank in Sicily Due to ‘Endless Chain of Errors,' Ship Maker's Owner Speculates: ‘Everything Was Predictable’

"A series of activities should have been done to avoid finding oneself in that situation," argues Giovanni Costantino, who owns the firm that built the vessel in 2008

• Giovanni Costantino — who is the CEO of The Italian Sea Group, the company that now owns Perini Navi, which built the  Bayesian  in 2008 — blames an "endless chain of errors" for the luxury yacht’s sinking on Monday, Aug. 19
• "Everything was predictable. I have the weather charts in front of me here," Constantino told Italian newspaper  Corriere della Sera  of the storm the boat was caught in
• "An unsinkable ship but from the crew an endless chain of errors," the CEO claimed to the outlet

The sinking of the luxury Bayesian  yacht off the coast of Sicily this week  resulted from an "endless chain of errors" by the crew, the ship maker's CEO is speculating.

"This episode sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact," Giovanni Costantino — who leads The Italian Sea Group, the company that now owns Perini Navi, which built the  Bayesian  in 2008 — said,  according to CNN .

While speaking to  Italian newspaper  Corriere della Sera , Costantino said he believes those on board should not have been in their cabins, as he claims they were, when the Bayesian sank in the early hours of Monday, Aug. 19. 

Many details of why the yacht went into the water so quickly remain unclear and it's not yet known what the passengers and crew were doing before tragedy struck.

The 183-foot British vessel sank around 5 a.m. local time on Monday after a "violent storm" while near Porticello, the Italian coast guard said in a statement that was previously obtained by PEOPLE.

"Everything that has been done reveals a very long sum of errors. The people should not have been in the cabins, the boat should not have been at anchor. And then why didn't the crew know about the incoming disturbance?" Costantino said in his interview, translated from Italian.

Related: Italian Authorities Currently Don’t Have Anyone ‘Under Investigation’ over Luxury Yacht Sinking

"The passengers reported an absurd thing, namely that the storm came unexpected, suddenly. It's not true. Everything was predictable. I have the weather charts in front of me here. Nothing came suddenly ... Ask yourself, why was no fisherman from Porticello out that night? A fisherman reads the weather conditions and a ship doesn't? The disturbance was fully readable in all the weather charts. One could not not know," he argued.

"An unsinkable ship but from the crew an endless chain of errors," the CEO asserted.

The coast guard has said 22 people were aboard the  Bayesian  when it sank — 12 passengers and 10 crew — and that 15 of those were subsequently rescued.

The body of the yacht's chef, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered nearby. 

Costantino's comments came as it was reported that five bodies had been found in the search for the missing six people as of Wednesday, Aug. 21, a source close to the rescue operations confirmed to PEOPLE. Authorities have said that their work is ongoing. 

An Italian government official, Massimo Mariani, reportedly named one of the dead as British tech tycoon Mike Lynch . The other bodies have not yet been publicly identified by authorities. 

Lynch was celebrating with family and friends on the yacht following his acquittal in a fraud trial in June, PEOPLE previously reported.

Related: 'We Are in Shock,' Prominent N.Y.C. Attorney's Firm Says After He and His Wife Go Missing in Yacht Sinking

Costantino offered his view of how the tragedy could have been avoided: "To begin with, in a weather alert situation it was inappropriate to have, as I read, a party. Not that evening. The hull and deck needed to be secured by closing all doors and hatches, after putting the guests at the ship's meeting point as per emergency procedure. Then start the engines and pull up the anchor or release it automatically, put the bow to the wind and lower the keel.

"The next morning they would have departed with zero damage." 

When discussing whether the crew were at fault, Costantino reiterated to the Italian outlet that he believes "errors were made."

"A series of activities should have been done to avoid finding oneself in that situation," he said. "I as the ship's captain would have moved, but even if for some reason I had to stay there, I would have managed those weather conditions which then, let's face it, weren't so crazy."

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.  

Costantino contended that there would have been "a zero risk if the correct maneuvers had been made and if situations that compromised the ship's stability had not occurred," adding to the newspaper that reports that the boat went down in seconds is "nonsense." He believes the yacht would have "went down" after water "started to enter" within "six minutes."

The remaining missing  Bayesian  passengers are Lynch's daughter Hannah as well as Chairman of Morgan Stanley International  Jonathan Bloomer, his wife, Judy , and New York City-based lawyer  Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda , sources have said.

Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, was among those rescued, PEOPLE previously reported.

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Read the original article on People .

Italian prosecutors announce manslaughter inquiry after sinking of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's family superyacht

Topic: Maritime Accidents and Incidents

Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah Lynch were both killed. ( Family handout/AFP )

Italian prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation after British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch's family superyacht sank on Monday. 

Seven people, including Mr Lynch and his daughter Hannah, were killed when the Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily. 

What's next?

The investigation is, as of now, not focusing on any individual person.

Italian prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation over the sinking of Mike Lynch's family superyacht Bayesian off the Sicily coast on Monday.

The public prosecutor's office of Termini Imerese, headed by Ambrogio Cartosio, announced the investigation, saying the probe was not aimed at any individual person.

He said that while the yacht had been hit by a sudden meteorological event, it was "plausible" that crimes of multiple manslaughter and causing a shipwreck through negligence had been committed.

Raffaele Cammarano, another prosecutor speaking at the same news conference, said that when authorities questioned captain James Cutfield he had been "extremely cooperative".

"It's in the interests of the owners and managers of the ship to salvage it," Mr Cartosio said, adding: "They have assured their full cooperation."

British entrepreneur Mike Lynch.   ( Reuters: Henry Nicholls/File )

The bodies of the ship passengers were all discovered by divers on the left-hand side of the boat. 

They may have been trying to search for remaining bubbles of air, head of Palermo's Fire Brigade, Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra, said.

It comes one day after the body of Mike Lynch's 18-year-old daughter Hannah was recovered from the site of the shipwreck.

She was the last person unaccounted-for after the tragedy, with the body of Mr Lynch and four others recovered by rescue divers on Thursday.

Officials did not confirm the identities of the other bodies recovered from the water.

Others reported missing from the yacht include the chairman of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, Mr Bloomer's wife Judy, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

The body of the only crew member who died, onboard chef Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday.

Fifteen of the 22 people onboard survived the shipwreck, including Mr Lynch's wife, whose company owned the Bayesian, and the yacht's captain.

Angela Bacares, Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter, Sofia, also survived.

Claims emergency procedures were not followed

The boat's maker has since blamed the shipwreck on "indescribable, unreasonable errors" by the crew.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the superyacht's manufacturing company Italian Sea Group, said there were no structural problems with the vessel that could have led to the shipwreck, arguing the crew were ill-prepared.

"It had absolutely no problem, it was a model for so many ships because it was so stable," he told the BBC.

"The weather alerts clearly showed the storm would have arrived at 4am, the captain should have closed every hatch, raised anchor, sailed into the wind, and lowered the keel. Then everyone could have gone back to sleep and the cruise would have happily continued."

Mr Costantino told Reuters correct emergency procedures had not been followed despite stormy weather already being forecast.

"The boat suffered a series of indescribable, unreasonable errors, the impossible happened on that boat … but it went down because it took on water. From where, the investigators will tell."

The Bayesian, a 56-metre British-flagged yacht, went down in a storm early on Monday as it was moored about a kilometre offshore.

Another yacht anchored near the Bayesian escaped unharmed.

While it was initially believed a water spout had caused the superyacht to sink, it was most likely a "downburst", Mr Cammarano said. 

A downburst is a very strong downward wind that is an intense but relatively frequent event at sea.

Mr Cammarano said it was likely the passengers were unable to escape the vessel because they were asleep when the storm struck. 

Drug and alcohol tests were not carried out on the survivors as they were in a state of shock and needed treatments for injuries.

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Lynch Yacht Sinking Off Sicily Proves as Baffling as It Is Tragic

As bodies were recovered, the authorities and experts wondered how a $40 million, stable and secure vessel could have sunk so quickly.

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By Emma Bubola and Michael J. de la Merced

Emma Bubola reported from Porticello, Italy, and Michael J. de la Merced from London.

Two months after being cleared in a bruising legal battle over fraud charges, the British tech mogul Mike Lynch celebrated his freedom with a cruise. He invited his family, friends and part of his legal team on board his luxury sailing yacht, a majestic 180-foot vessel named Bayesian after the mathematical theorem around which he had built his empire.

On Sunday night, after a tour of the Gulf of Naples, including Capri, and volcanic islands in the Eolian archipelago, the boat anchored half a mile off the Sicilian coast in Porticello, Italy. It chose a stretch of water favored by the Phoenicians thousands of years ago for its protection from the mistral wind and, in more recent times, by the yachts of tech billionaires. The boat was lit “like a Christmas tree,” local residents said, standing out against the full moon.

But about 4 a.m., calamity unfolded. A violent and fast storm hit the area with some of the strongest winds locals said they had ever felt. Fabio Cefalù, a fisherman, said he saw a flare pierce the darkness shortly after 4.

Minutes later, the yacht was underwater. Only dozens of cushions from the boat’s deck and a gigantic radar from its mast floated on the surface of the sea, fishermen said.

In all, 22 people were on board, 15 of whom were rescued. Six bodies — five passengers and the ship’s cook — had been recovered by Thursday afternoon, including that of Mr. Lynch, an Italian government official said, adding that the search was continuing for his daughter.

It was a tragic and mystifying turn of events for Mr. Lynch, 59, who had spent years seeking to clear his name and was finally inaugurating a new chapter in his life. Experts wondered how a $40 million yacht, so robust and stable could have been sunk by a storm near a port within minutes.

“It drives me insane,” said Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which in 2022 bought the company, Perini, that made the Bayesian. “Following all the proper procedures, that boat is unsinkable.”

The aura of misfortune only deepened when it emerged that Stephen Chamberlain, 52, a former vice president of finance for Mr. Lynch’s former company and a co-defendant in the fraud case, was killed two days earlier, when he was hit by a car while jogging near his house in England.

Since June, the two men had been in a jubilant mood. A jury in San Francisco had acquitted both on fraud charges that could have sent them to prison for two decades. There were hugs and tears, and they and their legal teams went for a celebratory dinner party at a restaurant in the city, said Gary S. Lincenberg, a lawyer for Mr. Chamberlain.

The sea excursion was meant as a thank-you by Mr. Lynch to those who had helped him in his legal travails. Among the guests was Christopher J. Morvillo, 59, a scion of a prominent New York family of lawyers who had represented Mr. Lynch for 12 years. He and his wife, Neda, 57, were among the missing.

So, too, was Jonathan Bloomer, 70, a veteran British insurance executive who chaired Morgan Stanley International and the insurer Hiscox.

The body of the ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered. All the other crew members survived. Among them was Leo Eppel, 19, of South Africa, who was on his first yacht voyage working as a deck steward, said a friend, who asked not to be identified.

Since the sinking, the recovery effort and investigation have turned the tiny port town of Porticello, a quiet enclave where older men sit bare-chested on balconies, into what feels like the set of a movie.

Helicopters have flown overhead. Ambulances have sped by with the sirens blaring. The Coast Guard has patrolled the waters off shore, within sight of a cordoned-off dock that had been turned into an emergency headquarters.

On Wednesday afternoon, a church bell tolled after the first body bag was loaded into an ambulance, a crowd watching in silence.

The survivors were sheltering in a sprawling resort near Porticello, with a view of the shipwreck spot, and had so far declined to comment.

Attilio Di Diodato, director of the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, said that the yacht had most likely been hit by a fierce “down burst” — when air generated within a thunderstorm descends rapidly — or by a waterspout , similar to a tornado over water.

He added that his agency had put out rough-sea warnings the previous evening, alerting sailors about storms and strong winds. Locals said the winds “felt like an earthquake.”

Mr. Costantino, the boat executive, said the yacht had been specifically designed for having a tall mast — the second-tallest aluminum mast in the world. He said the Bayesian was an extremely safe and secure boat that could list even to 75 degrees without capsizing.

But he said that if some of the hatches on the side and in the stern, or some of the deck doors, had been open, the boat could have taken on water and sunk. Standard procedure in such storms, he said, is to switch on the engine, lift the anchor and turn the boat into the wind, lowering the keel for extra stability, closing doors and gathering the guests in the main hall inside the deck.

12 guests occupied the yacht’s six cabins. There were also 10 crew members.

Open hatches, doors and cabin windows could have let in water during a storm, according to the manufacturer.

Open hatches, doors and

cabin windows could

have let in water

during a storm,

according to the

manufacturer.

Source: Superyacht Times, YachtCharterFleet, MarineTraffic

By Veronica Penney

The New York Times attempted to reach the captain, James Cutfield, who had survived, for comment through social media, his brother and the management company of the yacht (which did not hire the crew), but did not make contact.

So far none of the surviving crew members have made a public statement about what happened that night.

Fabio Genco, the director of Palermo’s emergency services, who treated some of the survivors, said that the victims had recounted feeling as if the boat was being lifted, then suddenly dropped, with objects from the cabins falling on them.

The Italian Coast Guard said it had deployed a remotely operated vehicle that can prowl underwater for up to seven hours at a depth of more than 980 feet and record videos and images that they hoped would help them reconstruct the dynamics of the sinking. Such devices were used during the search and rescue operations of the Titan vessel that is believed to have imploded last summer near the wreckage of the Titanic.

After rescuers broke inside the yacht, they struggled to navigate the ropes and many pieces of furniture cluttering the vessel, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for Italy’s national firefighter corps.

Finally, as of Thursday morning, they had managed to retrieve all but one of the missing bodies, and hopes of finding the missing person alive were thin. “Can a human being be underwater for two days?” Mr. Cari asked.

What was certain was that Mr. Lynch’s death was yet another cruel twist of fate for a man who had spent years seeking to clear his name.

He earned a fortune in technology and was nicknamed Britain’s Bill Gates. But for more than a decade, he had been treated as anything but a respected tech leader.

He was accused by Hewlett-Packard, the American technological pioneer that had bought his software company, Autonomy, for $11 billion, of misleading it about his company’s worth. (Hewlett-Packard wrote down the value of the transaction by about $8.8 billion, and critics called it one of the worst deals of all time .) He had been increasingly shunned by the British establishment that he sought to break into after growing up working-class outside London.

He was extradited to San Francisco to face criminal charges, and confined to house arrest and 24-hour surveillance on his dime. In a townhouse in the Pacific Heights neighborhood — with security people he jokingly told associates were his “roommates” — he spent his mornings talking with researchers whom he funded personally on new applications for artificial intelligence. Afterward, he devoted hours to discussing legal strategy with his team.

Despite his persistent claims of innocence, even those close to Mr. Lynch had believed his odds of victory were slim. Autonomy’s chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, was convicted in 2018 of similar fraud charges and spent five years in prison.

During Mr. Lynch’s house arrest, his brother and mother died. His wife, Angela Bacares, frequently flew over from England, and she became a constant presence in the San Francisco courtroom during the trial.

After he was finally acquitted, Mr. Lynch had his eye on the future. “I am looking forward to returning to the U.K. and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” he said.

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting from Pallanza, Italy.

Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in Rome. More about Emma Bubola

Michael J. de la Merced has covered global business and finance news for The Times since 2006. More about Michael J. de la Merced