DELIVERED FROM THE DEEP
After 83 days of heartache, families see the Nancy Glen brought to the surface once more... and with it the bodies of the loved ones they feared were lost to the sea for ever
INCH by inch, its hull emerging from the dark waves, the Nancy Glen made its final journey as dawn broke over Loch Fyne. Salvage crews had worked overnight to gently strap the fishing trawler to a lifting barge.
As it appeared from the waters in the early morning light, locals watched silently from the shore hoping that finally, their men might be brought home.
It has been nearly three months since the Nancy Glen sank, taking with her skipper Duncan MacDougall and crew member Przemek Krawczyk. A third man, John Miller, survived. Since then the prawn trawler has lain trapped beneath the waves, its hull an underwater coffin.
But yesterday, after funding was granted by the Scottish Government, it was finally pulled from the seabed by specialist lifting equipment and teams from Police Scotland and the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit. The Crown Office would later confirm that human remains had been found on board.
The news has brought mixed emotions in the nearby Argyll village of Tarbert, nestled at the start of the Kintyre Peninsula.
The village has been deeply affected by the fate of the Nancy Glen. Down at the port, where dozens of fishing boats set sail every day, a memorial to the men has been erected, a permanent candlelit vigil in place until the pair have been returned home.
Until now, a small buoy marked the spot where the trawler lay. On a clear day, it could be seen from the road out of Tarbert, a constant reminder to the community of their loss.
Fishing is part of the lifeblood here, deeply woven in the fabric of the community, and most families who live in the area have some connection to the sea. In this part of the world, most fishermen have known each other for generations.
‘The community will never be the same,’ said Andrew, one local. ‘There’s a shadow now, and I’m not sure if it will leave.
‘When the Nancy Glen went down boats from all over Oban, Campbeltown, Arran and Ayrshire came over to help look for them. They lined the entire loch, I’ve never seen anything like it.’
Throughout the village, collection boxes for the doomed trawler sit on almost every shop or café counter, bursting at the seams.
The money was originally collected to help fund the raising of the boat after the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), who initially conducted a seabed survey of the 40ft boat, announced it had no plans to do so.
However, the Scottish Government stepped in declaring it would do everything possible to lift the vessel from the seabed.
It is understood the £280,000 raised will be given to the families of Mr MacDougall and Mr Krawczyk.
A keen football player, Mr MacDougall, 48, left behind his wife Dawn and their two young boys. Mr Krawczyk, originally from Poland, leaves behind his wife Gosia and their children, five-year-old Mia and older son Kacper.
The families have felt the loss of their loved ones deeply – the knowledge that they may not be able to bring them home making the wound even more painful.
Mrs Krawczyk revealed earlier this month that little Mia still speaks to her father every night.
‘Mia still does not understand why you’re gone,’ she wrote in a Facebook post.
‘Every evening she looks at the sky and talks to the stars. She talks to you… Daddy, please take the rocket and fly to me.’
Mystery still surrounds exactly what happened on the night of January 18, when the Nancy Glen went down.
It was a calm, icy night when the trawler sent out its distress signal, bringing boats from all over to the stricken vessel.
Despite efforts from a nearby passenger ferry tying a line to the Nancy Glen, it still went under the water, and only Mr Miller managed to be rescued by a
passing fish farm work boat. Tales circulate through Tarbert, told by locals in hushed tones, of the terrible things that happened on board.
‘Some of the stories coming from the younger lads on the trawlers after the incident about banging on the hull and screaming coming from the boat and even the passenger boat trying to save them were horrendous,’ said one. ‘It’s a story that affects anyone who hears it.
‘You can go into any pub and shop along here and there are collection buckets for the Nancy Glen. They’re all completely full.’
‘The harbour is the first thing you see in the morning when you live here.
‘It’s on everyone’s minds until the two fishermen are brought home.’ In the local bars and pubs, men gathered in the late afternoon yesterday as the news of the prawn trawler being lifted from the depths broke.
The Nancy Glen was never far from their minds, or the conversation.
‘It’s a very strange feeling in the village today,’ one local said. ‘There’s a sense of happiness but it’s incredibly sad.’
Tarbert is a popular tourist spot, and even visitors to the village have been affected by the tragedy.
‘It’s strange, we had customers in here last night asking if something had happened in Tarbert, that it was quite quiet,’ said one barman who declined to be named.
‘I explained to them what had happened and the next day I went down to the harbour and there were flowers left.’
Last night, as the sun set over the loch, the vessel dangled by the side of the huge barge.
The investigation has stalled as the trawler is made safe, which may take several days.
‘Salvage teams who have been on board the vessel have described finding human remains,’ a Crown Office spokesman said.
‘While the vessel has now been lifted clear of the water, it remains unsafe for specialist officers from Police Scotland and the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit to enter the boat and complete the recovery and identification process.
‘This process will not be completed until it is deemed safe to do so and the specialist teams will remain on standby.’
For now, the families face another agonising wait, until their men can finally return to land.