Sapphire widow Shirley is on a Mission
Fundraiser 20 years after 4 crewmen died
A WIDOW of the Sapphire trawler tragedy has marked the 20th anniversary of the sinking with a fundraiser to help other stricken fishermen and their families.
Shirley Henderson’s husband Robert Stephen, 25, died with three crewmates when their boat went down in the North Sea, 12 miles off the Aberdeenshire coast on October 1, 1997.
On Saturday, Shirley and her daughter Darcie hosted a fundraising ball for the Fishermen’s Mission.
It was held in Peterhead’s Palace Hotel, where Shirley and the Sapphire families faced the world’s media two decades ago in the wake of the tragedy.
At the ball, Shirley was reunited with the “Mission man” – a representative from the charity who knocked on her door that terrible night 20 years ago to break the news.
She said: “Peter Dade was our Mission man. He is now based in North Shields but he and his wife drove nearly 300 miles for the ball.
“The saddest walk you can visualise is the Mission man coming up your path knowing he’s got to tell you that news.
“He had four families to liaise with and comfort – and he did it marvellously. It was great to see him again in different circumstances.” Robert died with Adam Stephen, 29, Bruce Cameron, 32, and Victor Podlesny, 45, when the Sapphire sank after being hit by a freak wave. The UK Government, led by then prime minister Tony Blair, refused to finance the recovery of the bodies from the sunken trawler. As a result, relatives began raising thousands of pounds to fund the operation. The campaign, backed by the then local MP Alex Salmond and the Daily Record, raised an astonishing £600,000 in a matter of weeks.
It meant the bodies of the four victims were recovered and brought home for burial.
Speaking yesterday as she prepared to visit Robert’s grave, Shirley said she hopes to have raised at least £2000 for the Mission, who provide financial, emotional and pastoral support to fishermen and their families.
She added: “It was a great night. Alex Salmond was there.
“He said a few words and was very gracious about his role in raising the Sapphire. It was nice to sit down and have a lovely meal rather than a heartbreaking press conference.
“I think we held four press conferences in the Palace after the tragedy.
“Life has moved on in all aspects for everyone. The one constant is the Mission.
“I’d like to make the ball a bi-annual event and raise money for them.”
Four years after the tragedy Shirley found love again with local joiner Paul Henderson and the couple had a son Owen, now 15.