BACK PAGES:TRAFFIC CONGESTION of an unexpected kind was making the headlines in 1982 with the dramatic sinking of a trawler, the Sharelga, 30 miles east of the Kish lighthouse. Its crew of five were rescued by a sister trawler and suspicion immediately focused on a submarine becoming entangled in its fishing nets.
“It was either a submarine or it was Jaws,” its skipper opined, “and if it was Jaws I wouldn’t be here.”
The incident cast light on the Cold War uses of the Irish Sea by British, American and Soviet submarines and also added to the deterioration in relations to all all-time low between Charles Haughey’s Fianna Fáil government and Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government.
As well as tensions over the North in the post-hunger-strikes era, the relationship was under strain because of Haughey’s refusal to support EU sanctions against Argentina following its invasion of the Falkland Islands in the lead-up to the Falklands war.
FOUR PLANES SEARCH FOR SUB
Two Naval Service vessels and four aircraft took part in a day-long search of the Irish Sea to the north and to the south of the position where the Irish trawler, the Sharelga, sank on Sunday night, but found nothing.
The Government appointed a marine investigator to conduct a preliminary investigation into the sinking of the 100-tonne vessel, which capsized and sank after it was dragged backwards for about two miles by an object that became entangled in its nets. The surveyor travelled to Clogherhead last evening to interview the skipper of the boat, Raymond McEvoy, and his crew of four.
An Army spokesman said that nothing had been sighted by the patrolling aircraft and naval vessels and he added: “We have not even established if it was a submarine that caused the vessel to capsize and sink.”
Despite speculation that a submarine may have been involved, no diplomatic approaches have yet been made to foreign governments. A spokesman for the Department of Transport said that all investigations would be in the hands of the marine surveyor.
Officials at both the Soviet and United States embassies in Dublin declined to say whether any of their vessels had been in the area at the time, an attitude which was also adopted by British officials in London.
The naval ships, the Aislingand the Aoife, took part in yesterday's sea search. The Aisling, which had been patrolling off the Donegal coast, arrived at the scene shortly after midday and used its sonar to scan the area. The Aoifetravelled northwards towards the scene from where it had been patrolling along the south coast.
Four aircraft – a Cessna and Alouette helicopter, a Beechcraft plane and the government jet – took part in the air search. However, initial contact between Shannon Marine Air-sea Rescue and Swansea Coastguard brought a denial by the British authorities that one of their submarines had been involved. A spokesman at the USSR embassy said he had “no information” about the matter while the response from the United States embassy was: “We don’t have any information about it at all.”
The Minster for Transport John Wilson, who has responsibility for maritime affairs, announced the holding of a preliminary inquiry.
*Skipper McEvoy's suspicion that it was a submarine and not Jaws was confirmed two weeks later when the British admitted that the sinking was caused by one of their submarines and offered to pay compensation.
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