26/09/2016 Inside Out South West

Welcome to another week of Inside Out, stories from right

All 31 people on board the Darwin perished including children. It made

no sense. My mother said it should never have happened. Such a waste.

This summer, a team of divers set out to find the Darlwynne. Could

they find out what happened one terrible summer evening in 1966.

When no longer looking for a wreck. It's a dive into the unknown. It

needs to be found for closure for the families. Welcome to the search

for the Darlwynne. Today, this is a haven for the local

boating fraternity. A safe backwater. A place where sailors of

all kind gather to explore the coastline and enjoy the love of the

sea. But in 1966, it was the focus of one of Britain's worst maritime

disasters. It happened the day after one of the country's biggest

triumphs. COMMENTATOR: Some people are on the pitch. They think it's

all over! Many people were celebrating England's World Cup

victory when the Darlwynne left for a day trip. She was in poor shape.

Her steering was erratic and there were issues with stability. She

wasn't fit to carry 12 passengers, never mind 29 on board. The

authorities knew nothing about the fact it was operating as a passenger

craft. That boat should never have gone to see. It had left Fowey just

warnings of a strong south-westerly storm heading in. The alarm was

raised late that evening. With a storm raging and an apparent

breakdown in communication between postcards, the air and sea search

didn't begin until first light, more than nine hours later. In the coming

days, from various locations along the coast, 12 bodies, small pieces

of wreckage and the Darlwynne's Dinky were recovered but there was

no wreck site to bring any clues as to what had happened. Darlwynne had

sunk without trace. Lifeboatmen still remember the desperate search.

We were out for 12-13 hours. We must have gone hundreds of miles up and

down. Never found nothing. It's a needle in a haystack. You're talking

about a 45 foot boat that came out of Fowey at four o'clock in the

afternoon. I remember looking at watches on two of the bodies, one

said eight o'clock, one said 815. Four hours. She could have been

anywhere. There was a massive air and sea search, probably the biggest

Cornwall has ever seen. Aircraft, helicopters, merchant ships, navy

ships, private aircraft. They only found a Dinky and a little bit of

wreckage. It was harrowing to a degree that I didn't let it affect

me. The most harrowing part of the recovery, we went alongside one body

and our stonewashed made it sink and then the crystal clear water, this

body, just glided down to the depths. That was upsetting for all

of the crew. We wanted to recover him. That was quite upsetting. 27 of

those who died were tourists staying at this hotel which is now private

apartments. In 1966, it was the focus of the story. People had to

deal with the details. Who owns these cars, personal belongings,

nobody wanted to stay at the hotel. The owners had to give up and it

fell into disrepair. The other people who felt the impact were the

boatmen, they were trying to sell perfectly safe trips around the

harbour, their livelihood, they rely on tourism now and then, and they

were packed in. All in all, the effect was profound at the time and

we still feel ripples of it today. A memorial screen in the church nearby

displays the names of those lost. Whole families like this one from

Barnet. They had added an extra day to the holiday especially to take

the boat trip. George Edmonds, an engineer from Derby, lost with his

fiancee Patricia. All four members of the Russell family. On holiday

with their friends the mills. But Russell was a keen sailor. A cousin

of the family was 13 when she lost form is of the family. She was

abroad with her parents when it happened. I know we were in Spain.

It was my mother's birthday. 31st of July. My father got newspapers

because he wanted to see the World Cup news. I remember reading about

the Darlwynne but at that stage, I don't think we realised Albert was

on the boat although we knew about the disaster. Latterly, I can

remember my parents say, if we had turned over the page of the

newspaper would have known more. The shock was horrendous. None of the

cousins ever got over it because they lived next door to but who was

like a brother to them. We were fortunate in as far as three members

of our family were found. Albert, Peggy and Pat were all found but

John was never found. It is still that disaster, shock and unnecessary

waste of life for everybody. There would have been panic, for sure.

Children on board, the parents would have been concerned. A high degree

of panic. A lot of passengers in a confined space. I can only begin to

imagine what they must have gone through. A public enquiry began in

December that year. Its conclusion was clear. The court of enquiry

blames two men for the loss of the Darlwynne and 35 lives on board. The

skipper and the registered owner. John Barrett was ordered to pay ?500

towards the cost of the enquiry. The only penalty the panel could impose.

Locals had accused the hotelier of profiting from the trip. He claimed

to have been exonerated for the disaster by the enquiry. What are

your feelings looking back? Sincere regret that it ever happened and a

feeling that it was probably one of these things that was due to happen

anyway. I don't think there was anything wrong with the boat. I

don't think that the boat contributed in any way to the loss.

But with no survivors and no wreck site, the enquiry raised more

questions than answers. It just made no sense. They were given warnings,

why go out? Such a lengthy trip on a boat that wasn't really fit for the

purpose, we would say now. It didn't make any sense. My mother would

often be heard saying, it should never have happened. Such a waste.

Martin Banks has researched the tragedy and its impact. The effect

of the villagers was immense because two of the village children were

lost with the boat, Amanda and Joel Hicks. There were lots of questions

asked. Was the boat fit, where the crew licensed? Question piled on

question. The biggest mystery of all is where is the boat? They expected

to find it very soon. They have said eight of the art Cold War

minesweeper and they expected to raise it very quickly. And therefore

answer the questions as what went wrong. Also to return the bodies to

the families but after 18 months they still couldn't find any. So, an

extensive search by the Royal Navy found nothing. 50 years on, our

search would have the benefit of better charts, while sophisticated

underwater technology would also need a bit of luck. Mark Milburn and

Nikolai and our professional rex finders who have worked all over the

world. This local story has particular resonance. It matters to

me because Darlwyne has been forgotten. I'm a embarrassed to

state that I'd never heard of it. Because it sunk after the World Cup

final in 1966, there is this issue that overshadowed it. All wreck

searches are special but this one is so recent and such a lot of life, it

needs to be found for closure to the families. We have worked on all

sorts of Rex, 17th Linus, U-boats, but never anything within living

memory. Certainly not within my living memory which it is just. I'd

like to tell the story. I've spoken to people who knew the boat, people

who should have been on the boat and relatives of people who are on the

boat and this is all in living memory and they need some closure.

It's an important story for them, really. The Darlwyne left Mylor for

an uneventful trip along the coast. At about one they arrived in Fowey

where they spent a few hours. Ignoring news of an approaching

storm, they left to return at around four in the afternoon. There were

reports of several sightings on the coast. The timing suggest she was

three or four hours into the journey when she Saddam. That would put her

in the area surged by the Navy in 1966. Mark and Nick think she may

have been blown back by the storm towards Todman point where reefs and

fast currents are notorious. We knew the boat would never have been found

in a 15 square miles area. We had to think, if we were coming into a

heavy Southwest Lisi, with those reefs there, what would we do? Why

would we go? We know it left Fowey on its way to Mylor. You can see the

overflows on the chart. That bit wasn't actually searched because you

can't get a minesweeper in there. Maybe it turned back. It's where we

don't need to look. You have got where people have looked, where

haven't they look. Where is live normally. The spread of the bodies

were all to the east. That starts you eliminating these little

squares. I think, the thing to say, if it's not in there, we won't find

it. We've got the best chance of finding it ever with the information

we've gathered. It's narrowed it down to that area. It would be

exciting but it's quite a sombre thing, as well. What we are looking

for is such a loss of life. Two months into our research, word

reaches the team of a significant discovery. This trawlerman believes

he. Wreckage of the Darlwyne in the 1970s. It would have been the summer

of 1979. We trawled up a section of Keele. The pedestal that the ship's

wheel was a catch to. A greased pipe to the stern tube and a few sections

of plank. How did they are true,? We were trawling and we snagged into a

previously lost control. It brought the whole a lot to the surface. What

sort of condition was this in? The vessel had disintegrated. It was in

pieces. I didn't suspect it was from the Darlwyne at the time. We took it

back to Fowey which was our home port at the time. We were talking to

the mechanic from the Fowey lifeboat who knew of the Darlwyne. The more I

talk to him, the more he was saying, this matches. We put two and two

together. Even the paint was, apparently, correct. In a way, it's

confirmed what we were thinking. It is in the area we were looking at.

If anything, it's made our task more difficult but it's made it a lot

more interesting. On the face of it, a lucky break through. Though, if

the wreckage recovered was from the Darlwyne it means there will be less

on the sea bed for the divers to find. Early June, a break in the

weather coincides with the right types. A team assembles at Mylor

ready to begin the underwater exploration. We've been looking into

this for three months. Searching and searching. This is hopefully going

to see the end of the research and finding the wreck. It left from the

quayside a few hundred yards away. The families who lost are keen to

know where it is. It is the completion of the story, if we find

it. Even on a relatively calm summers day, this point is still an

imposing sight. Offshore currents and reefs have claimed numerous

lives over the centuries. We are in the rough area that the trawlerman

said. This gully is quite rocky. You can see the rocks on the scan.

Looking at the chart, if something was trawled up by a scholar dredger,

it's got to be where a scholar dredger would dredge. We need to

start and let the current takers through. It is the right bearing but

a lot further than he said. After 50 years, there won't be much left.

Metal objects may have survived and Nick thinks the unusual Alice could

be easy to spot. -- ballast. Granite sets. These are unusual here. The

granular texture is going to stand out. How far are we? 300 metres.

For their first series of dives, visibility is surprisingly good and

the team quickly find the area that has been trawled. Scallop fishermen

use heavy trials that plough the sea bed and they may have destroyed

evidence of the wreck of the Darwin. Protocol requires divers to leave

evidence of untouched so they have several cameras to record anything

of interest. 30 minutes into the first set of

guides, Mark finds a piece of rock that doesn't belong there. Could it

be granite ballast from the Darlwyne's hole. -- Hull. Great

piece of visibility. We could see ten metres. I saw one lump of

granite. It could have been a set. Not 100% sure. This is where he

would have trawled it up if the story is true. Not far away, Nick

makes a similar discovery. What did you find down there? I think I found

a granite set. We've photographed it. It is a cube of granite. It had

the granular texture on the surface. It was perfectly cube shaped. I'd

like another look. Having said that, we know that some of the wreckage

was dredged up by a scallop dredger. The evidence on the sea bed is of

scallop dredging. We are in the right area. I'd like to find

something a little more conclusive but I think we are onto something

here. It's an encouraging start but the team is hoping to complete the

search before the 50th anniversary of the tragedy in July. Will the

weather allow another series of dives in time? Just a week before

the anniversary weekend, the weather clears and Mark and Nick returned.

This time, the current is much stronger and the visibility not as

good. Knowing the geography of the sea bed, Mark heads straight for the

end of the gully they've been searching. Anything dragged along by

the scallop fishermen is likely to end up there. Once again, there are

areas where the sea bed has been stripped bare. It's an unlikely

place to find wreckage. 30 minutes into the dive, as Mark is

beginning to think about returning to the surface, he starts to find

what he's been looking for. Various pieces of mackerel work, ironwork. A

fisherman's anchor, about four feet long, two feet wide. Some other

ironwork. What look like a winch. The sort of thing you'd expect from

a smaller vessel. The barest pieces of ironwork. One piece of timber

that looked like it had been recently uncovered. Under the

ironwork. It had been under the ironwork for a good few years

because of the general condition. It wasn't a steel ship. It was a timber

ship with steel fittings. We know there would have been Darlwyne

steel. That was the right size of anchor that the Darlwyne was

carrying. The fisherman's Anke is flat in the sea bed with some bits

of chain. What I saw was probably spread over no more than 20 - 30

feet. Again, that says it was a smaller vessel. It's the right size

for the Darlwyne. Best guess is because we have nothing else of the

age in the area that we know has sunk, so a very good chance that it

is the Darlwyne. The team are in a reflective mood. They may have found

the wreck of the Darlwyne but their thoughts are with those who have

perished. What will their families feel and what does our finding

reveal about the dreadful events of 30 years ago? Captain Mike Evans is

a Marine accident investigator who knows the area well. Does this

discovery givers any clues? The location is very important. There

were witness statements from along the shore that indicated seeing the

boat as it passed. The fact that it got to be area of the point tells is

a lot about the passage and it's already an area of serious

overflows. The sea state would have been highly confused, high waves. If

anything was wrong, it would soon have been found out and that

wreckage indicates that is where it started to get in trouble. And early

morning in Mevagissey harbour. The weekend of the 50th anniversary of

the loss of the Darlwyne. Families of those who died have travelled to

Cornwall for a series of memorial events. Our discovery means a chance

at last to visit the spot where her cousins died on a stormy night in

1966. The short trip from ever give easy -- from Mevagissey retraces the

final route of the Darlwyne. Nick shows them the footage of the wreck

site. We truly believe that is the right location. I think that is

enough evidence. This was never going to be a forensic dive. We were

never going to say this happened. I think we got our location. A bit of

closure. It's a beautiful bit of sea bed, a resting place for people and

I'm happy to leave it like that. Can't do any more. Over the wreck

site, a moment of reflection for Alex and her family. And a tribute

from the dive team. A rose for each of the 31 souls lost on the Darwin.

-- Darlwyne. I just feel very sad today. I feel it was an unnecessary

loss of life. A lot of families perished that should not have

perished. The more we find out, the worse it seems to get but there is

closure now. We know where they lay. We've said our goodbyes and

hopefully the families can now be in peace. When the flowers went in the

water, it was a lump in the throat moment. I got hooked into this story

by the people. It was never going to be a spectacular wreck but the

personal stories got under my skin. I wanted to do good things. Which

was to find a grave site and allow these people closure and I'm very

glad I've done that. The final chapter in the history of the

Darlwyne. You can find out more of the tragedy of the Darlwyne and how

the wreck was found on the BBC News website. That's it from us. Thank

you for joining as.