Superyacht head chef from Dorset drowned after night out drinking in France
The inquest in Bournemouth heard Flinn Sessions leaned on bollard on the quayside in La Ciotat before falling into the water
The head chef of a superyacht drowned after falling from the French quayside where it was moored after he had been out drinking with fellow crew members, an inquest has heard.
Flinn Sessions, from Wimborne, Dorset, had been working onboard the Atlantico yacht for two months when it was moored at La Ciotat, near Marseille, on June 9 2023.
The inquest at Bournemouth heard that the 22-year-old had visited several bars with members of the crew as well as workers from other boats and had been seen to have drunk several beers as well as shots.
Coroner Brendan Allen told the hearing that at one point his friends asked the waiter not to serve him any more drinks and he also knocked some glasses off a table.
He added that CCTV footage from the early hours of the morning showed Mr Sessions leaning on to a bollard on the quayside before he fell into water where he was seen to swim to the back of the yacht.
Mr Allen said that Mr Sessions was found dead in the water in the morning and post-mortem examinations in France and the UK both found that he died of drowning.
Recording a conclusion that Mr Sessions's death was the result of an accident, Mr Allen said: "While socialising with friends and colleagues, he had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol.
"On returning to the Atlantico in the early hours of 9th June, he fell into the water from the quayside and sadly drowned.
"From the fact the CCTV clearly shows Flinn was alone at the time he suffered the fall from the quayside, he wasn't suffering any ill health and this was clearly not something he intended to happen, Flinn died as the consequence of an accident so that will be the conclusion that I will record."