French trawler sinking was not caused by sub

A SUBMARINE did not sink a trawler off the Cornish coast, a coroner has found, rejecting the long-standing “fanciful and unfounded” theory of its demise.

The fate of the Bugaled Breizh has been shrouded in mystery since it sank off the Lizard Peninsula in 2004 in favourable conditions and with no apparent defects to the vessel.

The bodies of skipper Yves Marie Gloaguen, 45, and Pascal Lucien Le Floch, 49, were found in the initial search and rescue operation and brought back to the UK.

The body of a third man, Patrick Gloaguen, 35, was recovered during a salvage operation to raise the Bugaled Breizh but was taken to France, and his death was not subject of the inquest.

The bodies of the two remaining crew members, Georges Lemetayer, 60, and Eric Guillamet, 42, were never found. It has long been suggested that a submarine may have become entangled in the Bugaled Breizh’s trawling gear, causing it to capsize.

But in 2016, France’s top judicial court confirmed the closure of its investigation after finding no evidence to support the theory.

But the inquest heard the relatively light damage to the vessel’s trawling gear was inconsistent with entanglement with a powerful military submarine.

Judge Nigel Lickley QC, a coroner for the inquest at the High Court in London, said it was “wholly fanciful” that an unknown submarine had caused the sinking.

He said Dutch, German and British submarines were operating in the Channel, but were “many miles away” at the time of the sinking.

“For the avoidance of doubt, I am satisfied that no other identified Allied submarine of any type or class was in the area at the time and that includes submarines from the US ,” he said.