Fifty years on from Trident trawler tragedy off Caithness coast
Family members left bereaved by a trawler tragedy off the Caithness coast have been reflecting on half a century of heartache and unanswered questions.
The Peterhead-registered Trident sank in October 1974 with the loss of all seven crew, having last been seen south-east of Duncansby Head.
The wreck was discovered off Wick in June 2001 by a team of Orkney divers who had been searching for the destroyer HMS Exmouth, sunk by a U-boat during World War II.
The story of the trawler’s discovery on the seabed was broken by Wick journalist Noel Donaldson, who was then working as a reporter for the Caithness Courier and John O Groat Journal.
Vital information about the Trident’s position, in 60 metres of water some 14 miles offshore, came via Des MacLeod, who owned the Camps Bar in Wick. The Orkney divers had visited his pub and mentioned having seen a trawler while conducting their search for the Exmouth.
Mr Donaldson recalled: “Des, who was a former fisherman, told me, ‘I froze and the hairs on the back of my neck started to rise. The Trident sprang to mind. I just had a feeling it was her.’
“Mr MacLeod refreshed his memory on the tragedy with press cuttings and persuaded the divers to take a look at the wreck. His suspicions were confirmed and the long wait for relatives of the Trident’s crew, who had been unaware of her last resting place, was over.”
A public inquiry found that no-one was to blame for the sinking which, it was stated, was caused by a sudden and catastrophic capsize. But relatives had concerns about the stability of the 86ft vessel.
In 2006 it was reported that investigators intended to cut into the Trident in at least four places as part of a subsea survey.
Jeannie Ritchie, whose husband and father were among the fishermen who died, said at the time: “There was a suggestion that, after doing that, they would secure the wreck by sealing it.
“But the prospect of our loved ones being entombed in cement is not acceptable.”
In September 2011, Mrs Ritchie was one of three family members who were taken to the scene of the tragedy on board Wick lifeboat. They returned a lamp that had been removed five years earlier during an underwater survey.
Mrs Ritchie later described it as “a hugely emotional experience”. She said: “I laid flowers on the water for the husbands, sons and fathers who were lost that day.
“Visiting the wreck site was something I wanted to do all these years but never did. It was very, very difficult.”
She is now 84.
Top Stories
Those who died were Robert Cordiner, Alexander Ritchie, George Nicol, James Tait, Thomas Thain, Alexander Mair and Alexander Summers.
The Trident was reported to have left her sister ship, Faithful, nine miles from Duncansby around 3pm on October 3, 1974, after helping to repair a burst pipe. Around 45 minutes later, Wick Radio tried to contact the skipper but received no response.
A sign that something had gone badly wrong was the sighting of 40 fish boxes floating in the sea.
The Trident had been on her way back from the west coast after the end of the herring season.
