On Jan. 15, 2004 the French fishing vessel Bugaled Breizh sank in the English Channel off the Lizard, all five crewmen were killed. Of course since this is the 21st century the loss of a ship is now easily tracked and explained. We have radar, sonar, instant radio communication, cell phones and automatic emergency radio
beacons monitored by satellites. It is almost impossible for a ship to go missing without an explanation. So
why then did this one?

The boat was about 14 miles off the Cornish coast when she suddenly and quickly sank. A distress call from the
fishing vessel Eridan was received at Falmouth which triggered a massive search and rescue effort by Royal Navy and RAF rescue helicopters, the Penlee and Lizard lifeboats, and the Mount's Bay-based coastguard emergency towing vessel Anglian Princess. The Dutch submarine HNLMS Dolfjin S-808 also came to the scene.
Dolfjin had been part of a NATO exercise which was being conducted in the area.

To this day no official explanation has surfaced about the sinking but there are theories a plenty. The most
common is that the Dolfjin had collided with the boat or that she had snagged her trawl line and dragged her
down. The Dutch Navy has denied any involvement in the sinking and continues to do so. They say Dolfjin was
between 6 and 20 miles away at the time (depending on which report you read). Other culprits have been
identified as HMS Torbay and HMS Turbulent, also operating in the NATO exercise. The Royal Navy says that
neither one of these submarines were involved in the sinking.

The next theory is that a large merchant rammed her and did not stop. One ship identified as a possible suspect
was the Seattle Trader, however her bow was inspected on arrival at her next port and no damage was found.
When the Bugaled Breizh was raised it was found that her starboard side, below the waterline, had been
caved in but there appears to be very little damage to the ship above the waterline. To me, the untrained eye,
it appears to look like a ship with a bulbous bow may have rammed the little ship but you will have to be the
judge.

The wreck of the Bugaled Breizh.