Questions have been raised over the actions that led up to the death of an angler from Ruan Minor.

Christopher Martin Newton, 57, died as a result of drowning and hypothermia at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro just after 9pm on December 4, 2013, after being found floating in the sea by the survey vessel Triad.

An all-day inquest in Truro yesterday (Tuesday) heard Mr Newton might have been saved if he had been wearing a personal locator beacon.

However, questions were also asked over why a search and rescue helicopter had not been launched earlier in the search.

The alarm had been raised by Sam James, Mr Newton's friend and co-owner of his boat the Amy Jane, after he had failed to return as expected from a fishing trip near Kennack Sands.

Mr James said he had been unable to go fishing with Mr Newton on the day he died, but had helped him to launch the 13 foot open boat from Cadgwith Cove at around midday. The pair had been fishing in the boat six to eight times before, having bought it two months previously, but it was the first time Mr Newton had taken it out alone.

He was expected back at high water, between 4pm and 6pm that evening, and when Mr James tried to telephone at 3.30pm to ask if he needed help revering the boat, he received no reply. He checked the cove at 4pm, 4.45pm, and at 5.15pm, and at 6.30pm called a friend who lived by the harbour, but there was still no sign of the boat, and so he called the coastguard.

Two coastguard teams and the Lizard lifeboat were sent just before 7pm to search the area where Mr Newton had headed, and two other nearby vessels also joined the search, and at 7.53pm the Triad found Mr Newton floating conscious in the water.

In a written report read out by DC Rob Denton, a crew member said: “We were unable to use the sling [of the crane] properly, as the male's arms were jammed in his jacket pockets. We managed to haul him onto the vessel by the straps of his life jacket.”

A rescue helicopter was called out at around 7.30pm, and Mr Newton was taken first onto the lifeboat before being transferred to the helicopter at 8.24pm and taken to hospital.

Mr Newton was the secretary of the Helston Sea Angling Club, and his wife Elizabeth described him as “an experienced seaman” who had previously owned a boat when living in Jersey.

She said: “He was safety conscious, wore a lifejacket and warm clothing” and “advised others never to take the sea for granted.”

Mrs Newton said she was used to her husband staying out later than expected while fishing, and she “didn't fuss over him, expecting him home.”

Mr James said that although he himself carried a personal locator beacon (PLB) - a device which automatically sends out a distress signal and location when in the water - Mr Newton did not wear one, and there was no other emergency system such as a CHF radio or flares kept on the boat. He said that while Mr James did have an orange “grab bag” with him, he didn't know what was in it.

Investigator John McQuorcodale from the Marine Accident Investigation Board also found that the kill cord from the boat's engine had been left wrapped around the tiller.

James Instance of Falmouth Coastguard, who carried out a review of the incident, said: “It could have been a different outcome if Mr Newton had a PLB or flares.”

He said if a beacon is triggered it would automatically lead to lifeboats being launched and all measures being taken, and it would also allow searchers to locate any casualty.

In response to questions over why the helicopter had not been launched earlier in the search, Mr Instance said there were several phases of coastguard response, and as the incident had originally been reported as an overdue vessel, rather than a person in the water, which would have necessitated a higher level of action.

He added that the search and rescue helicopter was “not a silver bullet” and added that at the outset the “search target was a 13 foot open boat” and as such the helicopter may not have been searching the area in which Mr Newton was found.

A friend of Mr Newton and fellow angler, Steve Holyer, was listening to the VHF broadcasts on the night of the accident.

He questioned why rescuers used different radio frequencies, including channel zero which is not available to civilian vessels such as the Triad, and said he believed this had led to the search becoming confused.

He said he thought it meant some calls, including the first call in which the Triad reported finding Mr Newton, had been missed, although Mr Instance said that his team and the lifeboat crew had monitored all relevant channels, and the lifeboat had confirmed hearing the reports from the Triad.

Mr Holyer also questioned the method of lifting Mr Newton from the water, saying the fact he had been lifted vertically onto the Triad would have exacerbated the effects of hypothermia, and it would have been better to wait for the lifeboat, which arrived only minutes later.

Mr Instance said: “We don't leave somebody in the water for any period of time, even if only for a few minutes.”

A toxicology report found no alcohol in Mr Newton's blood, and the only drugs he had taken were venlafaxine, which he had been prescribed to treat anxiety.

The inquest at Truro City Hall heard that Mr Newton was a former civil servant who had moved to Cornwall from Jersey after retiring due to stress, and had been referred to the county mental health team in August 2013 for depression and anxiety, but had not been recommended for psychotherapy. He also had type two diabetes, and had been known to fall asleep during the day, including during previous fishing trips.