This image proves Navy submarines have lurked in Manx waters in the past – creating a hazard to fishing boats.
The picture, taken off Peel breakwater back in 1982 by our sports editor John Watterson, shows HMS Porpoise shortly after it was linked to the sinking of Irish trawler Sheralga. Fortunately, all members of Sheralga’s crew were rescued.
Last week, the skipper of an Ardglass trawler told of his crew’s lucky escape after their fishing gear was apparently snagged by a submarineoff the Manx coast. Paul Murphy said they were dragged backwards at up to 10 knots and would have sunk if one of the steel ropes holding the net hadn’t snapped.
‘Next day I heard Radio Ulster report the sinking and say “no British submarines were in the Irish sea”. It was quite a nasty incident. The crew were left in the water and by a stroke of luck another Irish boat from Clogher Head picked them up. It was another 24 hours before the MoD owned up.’
Admiralty maps show a number of a submarine exercise areas in the Irish Sea.
In 1987, another Northern Irish vessel the Summer Morn was dragged backwards for almost three hours with the submarine stopping periodically and then surging forward trying to break free from the net.
