The "cost-cutting" director of a yachting management company failed to maintain a yacht which sank in the Atlantic with the loss of its four crew members, including one Hampshire man.

It was claimed in court this week that when Douglas Innes received an email marked "Urgent" from the crew of the Cheeki Rafiki saying that it was taking on water, he carried on drinking in a pub rather than alert the coastguard.

Cheeki Rafiki lost its keel as it was returning from Antigua to the UK in May 2014, Winchester Crown Court heard this week.

Lost at sea were all four crew members – skipper Andrew Bridge, 22, from Farnham, and James Male, 22, from Romsey, who were both employees of Stormforce Coaching Limited, and friends Steve Warren, 52, and Paul Goslin, 56, both from Somerset.

Douglas Innes, 42, director of Stormforce, faces four counts of manslaughter by gross negligence, which he denies.

Nigel Lickley QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Innes and his company had not had the yacht inspected as required for its commercial certificate.

He said the yacht, which had run aground on three occasions in the past three years, had an undetected fault with bolts attaching the three tonne keel to the hull.

Mr Lickley said that despite the yacht not being licensed to sail solo more than 60 miles from a "safe haven", Innes had chosen a shorter "unsafe" northern route so the yacht would be back in the UK in time for booked charters.

When Innes received a message from the crew on May 14 saying that the yacht was leaking, Mr Lickley said: "He didn't call the Coastguard but he went to another pub near to his home and carried on drinking."

Only after receiving a phone call from skipper Andrew Bridge saying the situation was getting worse did Innes call the Coastguard.

"Mr Innes doesn't express, it would appear, any great sense of urgency, saying the pumps in the boat were coping with the water," said Mr Lickley.

Mr Lickley said that Innes emailed the yacht telling the crew to "pull the interior apart" to find the source of the leak and suggested looking at the keel bolts.

The prosecution said that expert analysis shows some of the keel bolts were broken and had been like that since October 2013.

"The yacht was therefore unsound, broken and unsafe before the four men left Antigua," said Mr Lickley.

He said that Innes had a "duty of care" to the four men and "not to save money at every turn" and not to put "profit over compliance" with the yacht's coding, or commercial certificate, with the Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association (YDSA).

Innes, of Whitworth Crescent, Southampton, also denies a further charge of failing to operate the Cheeki Rafiki in a safe manner between March 18, 2013 and May 18, 2014.

Mr Lickley said a massive search was launched by the US Coastguard after the yacht got into trouble off Nova Scotia.

However, the yacht wasn't found until May 17 when a container ship, the Maersk Kure, came across the capsized hull, minus its keel.

Without the keel the yacht would have capsized, said Mr Lickley who added: "This would have caused them to be jettisoned into the water and, if inside, to be trapped. They must have survived for some time, most probably in the water, until they were lost too."

Mr Lickley said the 40ft yacht was bought by Adrian Hacking for £135,000, who formed a Fast Sailing Ltd, to cover the ownership but contracted Stormforce Coaching to manage it in 2011.

Mr Lickley said that Innes was sent reminders that the yacht needed a mid-term inspection to keep its coding, which expired on March 17, 2014.

He said: "The yacht had not just slipped from its coding, it was as a result of poor management and poor planning. A diligent manager would do everything to ensure the yacht was surveyed.

"There seems to be some concern about the cost as being a reason why the inspection was not done."

The trial continues.