The trawler “Bugaled Breizh” was wrecked on January 15 2004. More than fifteen years have passed, and the enigma remains intact. On that day, five sailors disappeared at sea. The weather was not particularly bad, but the conditions in which the drama unfolded and the speed with which the boat sank raise questions.
The day of January 15, 2004
It was precisely at 1:23 pm that this trawler suddenly disappeared in the icy waters of the English Channel one day in January. Since then nothing has filtered through, neither the broadcasts, nor the books, nor the anger of the families has advanced the mystery of the sinking of the Bugaled Breizh. South of Cape Lizard in English waters, the Bugaled disappears in a few seconds. A shipwreck in the sea that raises questions. Boats that unfortunately sink every month. But what immediately questions the sailors and connoisseurs is the speed with which the ship sank. With this shipwreck, five families are plunged into mourning and suffering. The boat has initially been from Locktudy, and on January 15 the ship had returned to fishing. When the captain made a distress call on the VHF, another trawler five miles away heard the call.
The search for the Bugaled Breizh in position 49′ N, 05′ W
Following the distress call, the rescue team went to the scene. At the search area, two bodies were found the same day, unfortunately, those of Yves and Pascale. Eric, Georges and Patrick are still missing at sea. Faced with the injustice of this shipwreck, the families, friends and the marine world would like to find the culprit. This would not relieve the pain, but it would allow us to know.
The long investigation
The Accident Investigation Bureau was seized, and a vessel with a remote-controlled submarine was sent to the site. On the screen, the left bow is damaged. A Quimper prosecutor will declare that the Bugaled was rammed. The Minister of Transport at the time mentioned the possibility of a cargo ship. On March 13, 2004, a team of French investigators went to China. The purpose of the visit was to inspect a Philippine cargo ship in port. However, during the meticulous examination of the hull, no trace of paint was detected. The freighter was therefore exonerated, and the guilty party had to be found elsewhere. Then the decision was made to refloat the ship. In April a ship was sent to the site. It brings the cursed trawler to the surface. Only one body was inside the one of Patrick. The bodies of the other two sailors were never found. After being raised more than ninety meters, the Bugaled Breizh (Children of Brittany) was stored on the docks in Brest. The bow of the ship showed two dents on either side. Fifteen years later, we still don’t know more, and the families’ struggle continues.
Source: the latest request from the UK https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bretagne/finistere/inquest-du-bugaled-breizh-thierry-lematayer-retournera-aux-audiences-truro-mars-2020-1756905.html
Fortune of the sea?
In the language of seafarers, a sea fortune is an event that occurs by chance, without there necessarily being a person responsible. The combination of adverse weather conditions, wind and tide, for example. A sea fortune can also be breakage, the encounter with a tree trunk, a container, etc. After some time, the court of justice makes its decision, the Bugaled Breizh hit a sandbank, and this is what caused the shipwreck. The families reacted immediately. When something like this happens, the skipper quickly disengages the boat, or he drops the nets.
The silence of the military
Tim Cook, the spokesman, says the most amazing thing. There was a NATO exercise that day. But the ships were away from the fishing area. That is enough information to put the maritime world on notice. This story fools no one, and everyone remembers the mysterious presence of a submarine, the Dolphin. As a reminder, during the shipwreck, there was another French trawler which was about ten kilometres away. When he hears the May Day launched by Yves, the captain of the Bugaled Breizh, he hauls up his nets and immediately sets the course for the point indicated by the captain of the Bugaled Breizh. Every Thursday, the English play the naval battle. It is the famous Thursday War. A day when the English naval forces do military exercises in the English Channel. It only makes the story more complicated.
The French navy
As for the French Navy, the military declared that all the logbooks of their ships were at the disposal of justice. On the other hand, if there had been a collision between a French vessel and the Breton trawler, the French sailors would have spoken. The French navy is accustomed to manoeuvring between pleasure craft, merchant ships and fishing boats.
HMS Turbulent a possible lead?
Andrew Coles, a captain like no other, according to the Daily Mail because he would have been involved in two cases. Firstly, he is said to have been the captain of the British submarine HMS Turbulent on the day the Bugaled Breizh sank. Nevertheless, the submarine is officially under repair on January 15. On the same day, the submarine would have emitted about fifteen distress calls, still on January 15 2004. A simple mistake, control tests or manipulation.
Secondly, he is still the captain of the submarine when an English sub hits a sandbank in Scotland. Unbelievable but true, the grounding took place on October 10, 2010, .source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134232/1bn-nuclear-sub-hit-sandbank-commander-shower.html
The history of submarine-ship collisions
The Keren collision 2015, the British Navy acknowledges that one of its submarines was involved in the collision with the Karen. An Irish submarine that had been pulled a few metres before one of the trawl cables broke. The sailors had been scared to death but were unable to determine the cause of the accident. No one was injured, and the trawler remained on the surface. But this event is significant. It demonstrates that the possibility of a chance encounter between the Bugaled Breizh and a submarine is not a fantasy. In the early 1980s, two trawlers were also hit by a submarine. Shipwrecks and sea fortunes are never really forgotten, and these stories are usually exchanged along the docks when the stories are too long.