THE SEARCH

The boat disappeared off the radar screens of other ships in the area at just after 11.00am but the approximate position would have been known to within a few miles.

The search area off the Norwegian coast showing the last known position

at the time of sinking, and the position of the wreck found 23 years later.

Within 3 weeks of the sinking, the skippers of the Norwegian ships had notified their Maritime Dept of a wreck in that position and it was marked on their local charts, but the British Government insisted that a search for the wreck was impracticable owing to the "hundreds of square miles" which would have to be covered.

A NATO task force was in the area and carried out a search at the time but according to the Ministry of Defence the log for that period is not available. It has mysteriously disappeared!

Eventually, in 1997 a search was carried out and the wreck was found where almost everyone except the Government expected it to be, but it had taken 23 years of lobbying and agitation by the families of the crew and one of the local M.P.s.

At the time of the sinking, after it was presumed lost with all hands, the Trawlerowners offered the bereaved a total of £200 per family compensation and a letter of condolences. A fitting tribute to a lifetime of hazardous labour!

It is worth remembering that between 1940 and 1987 a total of 156 trawlers were lost, the vast majority of them with no survivors.