Post by Taxigirl on Dec 17, 2004 8:39:10 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/4101905.stm
A new report into the sinking of the Hull trawler the Gaul will be published on Friday.
The trawler sank in the Barents Sea, off the Norwegian coast, in February 1974 with the loss of 36 crewmen.
Why it sank has never been fully explained although rumours persist it was torpedoed by the Soviet Union amid claims it was spying.
Mr Justice David Steel started hearing evidence in January and will deliver his report at the Guildhall in Hull.
At the start of this latest inquiry, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith threw out any claims of espionage.
Both an intelligence officer and former first-mate testified there was no spying on the ship.
But the inquiry held a special session in October when a former naval chief petty officer, Derek Barron, gave evidence.
Mr Barron claimed to have overheard a conversation in a naval mess in 1983 suggesting a British submarine may have come into contact with the Gaul.
A public inquiry held after the sinking concluded the 18-month-old ship had sunk, without raising a Mayday signal, after being battered by heavy seas.
Most of the men who died in the tragedy were from Hull, but six members of crew were from North Shields.
Families of Gaul crew members remained unconvinced but the next breakthrough did not come until 1997 when the wreck of the Gaul was found.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott launched an inquiry in 1999 after a survey of the wreck brought new evidence to light.
But this investigation failed to bring the mystery to an end.
A further breakthrough came in 2002 when the remains of four crew members were retrieved from the wreck and DNA enabled them to be identified.
A new report into the sinking of the Hull trawler the Gaul will be published on Friday.
The trawler sank in the Barents Sea, off the Norwegian coast, in February 1974 with the loss of 36 crewmen.
Why it sank has never been fully explained although rumours persist it was torpedoed by the Soviet Union amid claims it was spying.
Mr Justice David Steel started hearing evidence in January and will deliver his report at the Guildhall in Hull.
At the start of this latest inquiry, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith threw out any claims of espionage.
Both an intelligence officer and former first-mate testified there was no spying on the ship.
But the inquiry held a special session in October when a former naval chief petty officer, Derek Barron, gave evidence.
Mr Barron claimed to have overheard a conversation in a naval mess in 1983 suggesting a British submarine may have come into contact with the Gaul.
A public inquiry held after the sinking concluded the 18-month-old ship had sunk, without raising a Mayday signal, after being battered by heavy seas.
Most of the men who died in the tragedy were from Hull, but six members of crew were from North Shields.
Families of Gaul crew members remained unconvinced but the next breakthrough did not come until 1997 when the wreck of the Gaul was found.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott launched an inquiry in 1999 after a survey of the wreck brought new evidence to light.
But this investigation failed to bring the mystery to an end.
A further breakthrough came in 2002 when the remains of four crew members were retrieved from the wreck and DNA enabled them to be identified.