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Ronald Edwards lives in a village outside of Fraserburgh. His flat-fronted granite cottage has white-painted sash windows and an old-fashioned doorknocker in the shape of a lion’s head. It echoes through the interior, summoning an old man dressed in baggy shorts and a Scottish rugby jumper. He has white-grey hair, fluffy above his ears, and wrinkles that fold into more wrinkles around his eyes.
‘Where are mah groceries?’ he asks, stepping onto the pavement.
‘Pardon?’
‘Those eejits said between ten and twelve.’
He looks at Evie and frowns. She holds up the book. ‘Did you write this?’
He grins, ‘So, you found the other one. Weren’t many copies printed. Labour o’ love that one.’
‘We wanted to ask you about the sinking of the Arianna II,’ I say.
‘Well, you’d best come in. Time for a brew.’
He leads us along a cluttered passage, weaving between boxes of books that are resting precariously on top of each other. There are more books stacked up the stairs and on the first-floor landing.
‘Ah’m not a hoarder,’ he says. ‘I just cannae throw anything away. Apart from my first wife. She got recycled. Married again.’ He winks at Evie.
The cluttered kitchen has more books and folders. He fills a kettle and makes a pot of tea, putting sugar, milk and shortbread biscuits on a tray.
Finally seated, he opens a hip flask and pours a splash into his tea. He waves it towards me. I decline.
‘I’ll have some,’ says Evie, holding out her mug.
Mr Edwards looks at me, as though seeking permission.
‘It’s her choice,’ I say.
He pours a splash into her mug. Evie takes a sip and makes a face. Lesson learned.
‘You have quite a library, Mr Edwards,’ I say.
‘Call me Fishy. Everybody else does.’
‘You were a fisherman,’ I say.
‘Christ noo! It’s what yer might call an ironic nickname. Ah get seasick in the bathtub. Why are you so interested in the Arianna II?’
‘It’s a personal matter,’ I say, trying to protect Evie.
‘Aye, well, that was Willie Radford’s boat. He lost his youngest son. Only nineteen.’
‘What happened?’ I ask.
‘A fire in the engine room, triggered an explosion. The boat sank before help arrived.’ Fishy gets up. ‘Wait here.’ I can hear him going through boxes in his study. He returns with a bound folder.
‘The Maritime Accident Investigation Branch sent a team from Southampton to interview the crew and take statements. This is the final report.’
I read the summary page, which describes the Arianna II as a twin-rig steel-hulled trawler built in 1970. Length: 17.44 metres. Beam: 6.49 metres. Draft: 2.24 metres.
The Arianna II departed from St Claire on 14 September 2010 with a crew of four and voyaged to its North Sea fishing grounds. For the next eight days it fished Dogger Bank about 130kms off the Yorkshire coast, trawling for white fish, processing the catch after each haul. At night the trawler drifted with a lookout in the wheelhouse while the remaining crew rested.
On 22 September, the trawler began the journey home. At 21.30, approximately 100 nautical miles east of Aberdeen, a smoke detector began sounding in the engine room. The skipper, who was at the helm, sent a deckhand to investigate. When the door to the engine-room was opened, the deckhand saw heavy smoke and flames. He raised the alarm and tried to extinguish the blaze using retardant, but the open bulkhead door added oxygen to the fire and likely triggered a flashover explosion. The deckhand was blown backwards against the bulkhead, suffering critical injuries. He was dragged from the engine room by the skipper, who sustained burns to his face, neck and hands. The engineer performed CPR, but could not resuscitate the deckhand, who died of his injuries.
The skipper and remaining crew fought the fire with portable chemical fire extinguishers and brought the blaze under control, but the explosion had caused a breach in the hull and water was welling up underneath the main engine. The skipper set up the port general service pump to draw from the engine room bilge, but the inflow of water overwhelmed the pump.
By 22.05 it was clear that efforts to stabilise the situation were failing and the skipper raised the alarm with the coastguard by transmitting a ‘Mayday’ call on both very high frequency (VHF) and medium frequency radios; he also pressed the VHF digital selective calling distress button, and manually activated the emergency position indicating radio beacon.
