Sub. drags trawler backwards for 3km

Press, 15 August 1984, Page 8

Sub. drags trawler backwards for 3km

NZPA London A submarine caught a British trawler’s net yesterday and towed it backwards for three kilometres. It happened when the Brixham-based Joanna C was working about 15km south-east of Berry Head, south Devon. The skipper, Bruce Cooke, told coastguards his net had become entangled with something very powerful. The submarine brought the trawler to a standstill and then dragged her backwards at a speed of about three knots. Afters three kilometres, the skipper cut his net and

headed back to Brixham. A coastguard spokesman said the Royal Navy had said a British submarine was not responsible. A crewman, Leslie Le Page, aged 30, said, “It was very frightening. It was pitch black and we just did not know what had happened. “We knew we had picked up something but we did not know what it was. “The skipper spoke to the coastguard on the radio and I presume through him the Ministry, because we were ordered to cut our nets and told we would be paid compensation.”

The Joanna C is described as a 34-ton stern trawler. A British submarine was responsible for the sinking of the Sheralga, an Irish trawler, in the Irish Sea in April, 1982. The boat was pulled backwards at between eight and 10 knots after the submarine became entangled in the nets, and eventually capsized. In March this year, another Irish vessel, the Oriel, was pulled backwards for five kilometres by what was believed to be a submarine, also in the Irish Sea. The skipper had to cut his gear to save his vessel.