Boat owner Steven Smith told yesterday of his devastation after his 58ft catamaran Rising Son II came loose from her mooring during Tropical Storm Fay and ended up with “massive, massive damage”.

The young entrepreneur, who was in the midst of a successful first season renting out the vessel for charter tours, said he didn’t know yet if the boat was “salvageable or a write-off” but she looked in a bad state.

Rising Son II came loose from her mooring off Hinson’s Island in the Great Sound at about 8am on Sunday after a chain broke. Mr Smith, 28, said: “I was home. I showed up 20 minutes later, just looked out and saw no boat.

“I looked to my left and saw it on the rocks. I bought it this time last year. It’s my first year owning it and I’ve had an amazing first season. I couldn’t put into words [how I felt]. Just terrible. Just terrible.”

Mr Smith said the boat’s mooring was last checked in August, as required for insurance purposes.

“They still have to assess to see if it’s salvageable or if it’s a write-off,” he said. “There is massive, massive damage to the starboard side. The keels are gone. The rudder’s gone. There are massive holes on the right side of the boat.”

Yesterday afternoon, Rising Son II should have been running a charter tour but was instead being lifted by a crane off the rocks on Harbour Road.

Watching the salvage, Mr Smith’s mother Sallyann told this newspaper: “We are not sure what the situation is yet until we get it out of the water. We’ll have to see how it turns out.”

She said the accident was “devastating”, describing how her son had “worked so hard” to make a success of his business.

Rising Son II wasn’t the only large boat damaged during Fay.

Shelton Dowling, 40, told how his 60ft cruising yacht Defiance came loose from her mooring on Pitts Bay Road and ended up submerged in water.

“I went there as soon as the wind rescinded — I went out and looked for it,” he said. “It broke the moorings and it went aground over by Newstead. It’s got a hole in it. It’s sunk. I have got to pull it up and fix it.”

Mr Dowling declined to say if the vessel, which was built in Bermuda in 1973 and was being repaired for private use, was insured.

“We were getting it ready for next season, for the summer, so we could go cruising,” he said.

“It broke the mooring — that’s all I know. Right now, we need to do some investigating.”