Mystery deaths at sea should be solved - 12-09-97

"Pescado" verdict re-opens questions over losses.
Trawler wreck should be preserved as memorial

 British, Irish & the EU should reopen enquiry into "marine tragedies that cost so many lives and caused so much suffering to those left behind".

 If the openness of Britains "New Labour" government is to mean anything it should draw back the curtain on a dark episode from the closing period of the Cold War.

 In the period between 1979 -89 there were scores of accidents at sea caused by the submarine activity of both NATO and the Warsaw Pact navies. In British coastal waters there were a significant number of such incidents. The problem ultimately led to new codes of practice being introduced by submarines and UN conventions to address the issue. With the departure of both the US and Russians and the general decline in British undersea power the problem disappeared.

 In its wake however were left the unexplained deaths of scores of fishermen many of whom disappeared without trace together with their vessels. The tragedy affected coastal communities in Ireland, north and South Wales, Scotland and Brittany. The most suspicious incidents occurred either in submarine "choke-points" or in designated exercise areas.

 Some incidents such as the Welsh MFV (Motor Fishing Vessel) Inspire loss in 1988 point unerringly towards involvement by the Royal Navy. The MFV Mhari L from Kirkcudbright in SW Scotland disappeared in almost perfect weather in an area frequented by US Subs. Some, like the MFV Cite D'Aleth, a large deep water boat from Concarneau in Brittany with a 10 man crew, managed a Mayday but most vanished without trace.

 Perhaps now Cold War tensions have eased the British and Irish governments could jointly address the question of this sequence of marine tragedies that cost so many lives and caused so much suffering to those left behind? With the involvement of a body such as the European Parliament a proper independent enquiry might learn the fate of some of those lost.

 NB. A number of Breton vessels were lost in the Pembroke Strait area, "Cite D'Aleth", "La Course" and "Galv ar Mor": A total of twenty three men not accounted for in an area known to be usedby the British and French navies for "war games".

 The Celtic League produced a dossier covering period mentioned and earlier incidents with specific details that list over 160 incidents.
 

Trawler should be retained as memorial mystery sea dead - 12-09-97

 Controversy has surrounded the loss of the vessel, off Cornwall in 1991, with suspicions of both a natural tragedy and a collision or snagging by a submarine.

 Whatever the truth of the Pescado loss it should be maintained as a monument to other mysterious losses. The vessel is undoubtedly an embarrassment to the Department of Transport and its Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) for it is a physical reminder of the MAIBs inability to resolve the mystery of over a score of suspicious Trawler losses in British home waters during the closing stages of the Cold War.

 Submarine activity, confirmed in some instances, is also suspected to have caused the deaths of up to one hundred fishermen over a ten year period. Fishing vessels and their crews from Scotland Wales Ireland & Brittany perished, some disappearing without trace, many in good weather conditions in known submarine activity areas. With the end of the Cold War US and Soviet submarines cutback their confrontation around the British Isles and bases closed. Pointedly all the suspicious incidents then ceased.

 Last month the Celtic League called for investigations to be re-opened. We now re-iterate that call and hope that John Prescott, who often boasts his seafaring links, has the commitment to end these mysteries and so resolve a long agony for relatives of those lost.

 Prescott could also concentrate his attention on the lamentable record of MAIB in resolving sound cause or reason for these sinkings. Their ineptitude during this period may have cost lives that might have been saved.

 J B Moffatt
General Secretary

Pescado Verdict Reopens Mystery of Missing Vessels -22-02-97

 Much play was made in the Pescado case about the seaworthiness of the vessel and its crews inexperience. Attempts to "hang" its owner using this indictment appear to have failed.

 The Celtic League monitors military activity and, over twenty years up to 1993, we have built up the most comprehensive dossier of over 150 incidents involving submarines and MFVs. Included in this total were twenty suspicious sinkings and disappearances and over 150 deaths. Whatever the circumstances of the Pescado, what was clear to us in relation to most of these incidents was that the vessels, from Scotland Wales, Ireland Cornwall & Brittany, were solid, seaworthy and crewed by experienced men.

 More pointedly, when the Cold war ended and the US and Soviet navies left waters around the British Isles, the number of incidents involving MFVs and submarines dramatically declined.

 In 1993 the Celtic League ended its campaign for International action to close waters around the British Isles to submerged exercise activity. By this time, considerable action by both the Royal Navy and Internationally had been taken to address the problem.

 The campaign "ended" with the laying of a wreath in a submarine exercise area in the Irish sea, the scene of many of the sinkings. The wreath contained the names of the twenty vessels and though our campaign is over the mystery of their loss and the many deaths remains.

 It is still not too late for an International enquiry to resolve the fate of some of these vessels and ease the grief of those left to mourn their loss at sea. If the Pescado verdict focuses attention on this hidden tragedy it will be a good thing!

 J. B. Moffatt, General Secretary.