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The fishing vessel Gaul was a deep sea trawler based at Hull, United Kingdom. She sank some time on the night of the 8-9 February 1974 in storm conditions in the Barents Sea north of Norway. No distress signal was sent and her loss was not realised until 10 February after she twice failed to report in. An extensive search operation was launched but no trace of the ship was found at the time, apart from a lifebuoy recovered three months later. Thirty-six crew were lost in the worst peacetime disaster to befall the UK fishing fleet.

The original Formal Inquiry in 1974 concluded that the most likely reason for her loss was that she was capsized by a succession of heavy seas (ie very large waves) and was unable to right herself. Note that the preliminary inquiry had found serious deficiencies in the maintenance of hatches on Gaul's sister ship Kurd, but that this was downplayed at the formal inquiry.

In 1975 the Norwegian trawler Rairo reported snagging her nets on an obstruction in the area Gaul was lost. In 1977 the UK government decided against launching a search based on this (and other similar) information, despite being confident that this was indeed Gaul. They argued that it would add insufficient new information in aid of safety at sea to justify the cost.

Relatives of the crew were reluctant to accept the inquiry findings because Gaul was one of the most modern ships in the UK fishing fleet, only 18 months old, and in 1975 a TV programme claimed she had been sunk while engaging in espionage. Over the years other theories, including conspiracy theories, have been advanced:

• She was captured and interred by the Soviet Union because she was engaged in espionage
• She was sunk by a Soviet submarine for the same reason
• She collided with a submarine engaged in clandestine operations
• She was dragged under after snagged her trawling gear in secret undersea cables (SOSUS).

In 1997 a TV crew, with help from Norwegian experts located the wreck exactly where Rairo had reported snagging her nets.

This prompted UK Deputy Prime Minister (and Hull MP) John Prescott to ask the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport to carry out extensive surveys of the wreck, which it did in 1998 (with further work in 2002). From its findings MAIB said there was enough new evidence to warrant a new inquiry. Specifically the surveys revealed that some of Gaul's hatches were seized opened and one appeared to be secured open. Also, the ship's steering gear (rudder and kort nozzle) was full over to port. Prescott agreed and launched a new inquiry (the Re-opened Formal Inquiry).

On 17 December 2004 the RFI concluded that these open hatches compromised the ships watertight design and, combined with a following (and as already noted heavy) sea led to flooding on the factory deck. An attempted emergency manoeuvre by the officer of the watch (a perfectly logical move to try to turn 'into the sea') catastrophically deprived Gaul of her stability - as floodwater moved around - and buoyancy, causing her to sink very rapidly, stern first.

The report dismissed the notion that Gaul was involved in espionage or that she was in a collision and found that she was not fishing at the time of her loss, meaning no snagging occurred.

In the immediate wake of the report, relatives of the crew said they were not satisfied [1] and the truth was still to be told.

• Gaul was one of four ships in her class. the others were Kurd, Kelt and Arab (later Kappin).
• She was launched in 1972, originally built for Ranger Fishing and named Ranger Castor. She was renamed when Ranger was bought by British United Trawlers.
• She was a stern trawler, meaning that the nets were cast off of the back of the ship (rather than the side, as with a sidewinder trawler)
• She was a filleter-freezer factory ship and processed fish, as well as catching it. This means she effectively had two crews, the 'sailing' crew and the factory crew. The Reformed Formal Inquiry noted this as a potential risk factor if the factory crew were not fully conversant with the safe operation of Gaul.
• The report noted that the skipper and Mate, although experienced mariners, had never sailed in a ship of Gaul's class, specifically ships with separate factory crew.
• The chutes at the centre of the inquiry's conclusions were the duff and offal chutes, used to dispose of unwanted marine organisms and waste matter respectively. Wreck Commissioner Mr Justice Steel said of the poor condition of these chutes: "This reflects poorly on the maintenance and repair work performed by the owners and their staff."
• The inquiry secured for the first time official confirmation that the UK government used trawlers for espionage during the Cold War, but found no evidence that Gaul was - or had ever been - so used.
• An episode of The Physic Detective on Living TV was based around one of the relatives of a crew member on The Gaul trying to discover the truth about her Father's death and the ship's sinking.

• Inquiry official site
• Site claiming conspiracy of silence over an alleged design fault