Was submarine involved in to sinking of the Breton trawler Bugaled Breizh?

The Celtic League have an interesting article on the new inquest about to take place in Cornwall on the sinking of the Breton trawler Bugaled Breizh. The League has long campaigned on the issue of the dangers posed to Motor Fishing Vessels (MFVs) by military submarine activity. The Celtic League has monitored and recorded possible accidents between fishing vessels and military submarines over many years and has estimated that no less than 20 boats have been lost together with the lives of over 150 fishermen. The Bugaled Breizh  went down with the loss of all hands on January 15th 2004 off the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, having set sail from its home port of Loctudy in Brittany. The ship briefly radioed it was sinking in what were at the time good weather conditions. All five of the crew were lost. The loss of the vessel remains unresolved and relatives and friends continue to seek answers to the tragedy. It is strongly suspected that the ship was pulled under by a submarine during a military exercise. The Celtic League article is printed below:

"WILL NEW INQUEST SHED LIGHT ON FISHING TRAGEDY?

The Bugaled Breizh was lost with all five crewmen fifteen years ago, in January 2004, off the Lizard Peninsula.

Successive enquiries both in the UK and France have postulated a number of theories for the sinking of a well crewed, well equipped and well maintained vessel in conditions which were not severe.

A prime candidate for blame is the military as a major NATO exercise was underway at the time and submarines from several NATO countries including France, UK, Germany and the Netherlands were in the area or in transit to it. One enquiry in 2008 suggested that submarine involvement was highly probable but others since have contradicted this.

All the submarine operating powers at the exercise deny involvement although the Russian Federation which may have had submarines in the area monitoring the NATO exercise has not commented.

Next month a Coroners inquest will open in Cornwall (the second such attempt) to shed light on the sinking. Two of the crewmen’s bodies were recovered off Cornwall hence the legal jurisdiction of the Coroner.

A previous Coroners enquiry four years ago prompted a submission of evidence from the Celtic League which has probed submarine involvement in the suspicious loss of MFVs for decades (link):

https://www.celticleague.net/…/bugaled-breizh-league-send-…/

https://www.celticleague.net/…/bugaled-breizh-belated-repl…/

(Other links on this and related items can be accessed via the search - top left - on our main website):

https://www.celticleague.net/

A related Breton website SOS Bugaled Breizh can be found at this link:

https://www.bugaledbreizh.org/

Image: The Judges at the inquiry at Quimper in July 2008 advanced a scenario for the loss.

There is great interest in this case and support for the families of those who died in both Breizh and Cornwall. We will update on the inquest in due course.

Bernard Moffatt
Celtic League"