:00:00. > :00:00.Monaco 's received a temporary extension of its licence. And I want
:00:00. > :00:00.BBC News, Inside Added. Hello, and welcome to a special
:00:07. > :00:08.edition of Inside Out. Tonight, the story of the search
:00:09. > :00:12.for the Darlwyne, a pleasure boat which sank off
:00:13. > :00:15.the coast of Cornwall 50 years ago. All 31 people on board
:00:16. > :00:18.the Darlwyne perished, It remains one of
:00:19. > :00:22.the biggest peacetime disasters in British waters,
:00:23. > :00:26.and one of the biggest mysteries. My mother said it should never
:00:27. > :00:39.have happened. This summer, Inside Out
:00:40. > :00:44.and a team of divers set out Could the wreck and its location
:00:45. > :00:50.tell us more about what happened one We're looking for a needle in
:00:51. > :00:56.a haystack, because we are no longer we are looking for evidence
:00:57. > :01:01.that a wreck was there. Diving in treacherous
:01:02. > :01:03.waters, we sought the It needs to be found
:01:04. > :01:13.for closure for the families. I'm Jemma Woodman, and welcome to
:01:14. > :01:16.Inside Out South West This is Mylor on the Fal
:01:17. > :01:34.Estuary in Cornwall. Today, this is a haven for the local
:01:35. > :01:37.boating fraternity. A place where sailors of all kind
:01:38. > :01:47.gather to explore the coastline But in 1966, Mylor was the focus
:01:48. > :01:52.of one of Britain's And it happened the day after one
:01:53. > :02:01.of the country's biggest triumphs. COMMENTATOR: Some people
:02:02. > :02:03.are on the pitch. Many people were celebrating
:02:04. > :02:14.England's World Cup victory when the Darlwynne left
:02:15. > :02:16.for a day trip to Fowey. As an inquiry would later show,
:02:17. > :02:20.she was in poor shape. Her steering was erratic and there
:02:21. > :02:28.were issues with stability. She wasn't fit to carry 12
:02:29. > :02:35.passengers, never mind 29 on board. The authorities knew nothing
:02:36. > :02:44.about the fact it was operating That boat should never
:02:45. > :02:57.have gone to see. The skipper ignored warnings
:02:58. > :03:05.of a strong south-westerly The alarm was raised
:03:06. > :03:13.late that evening. With a storm raging and an apparent
:03:14. > :03:18.breakdown in communication between coastguards,
:03:19. > :03:21.the air and sea search didn't begin until first
:03:22. > :03:24.light, more than nine hours later. In the coming days, from various
:03:25. > :03:30.locations along the coast, 12 bodies, small pieces of wreckage
:03:31. > :03:33.and the Darlwynne's dinghy were recovered but there was no
:03:34. > :03:36.wreck site to bring any clues The Darlwynne had
:03:37. > :03:40.sunk without trace. Lifeboatmen still remember
:03:41. > :03:45.the desperate search. We must have gone hundreds
:03:46. > :03:53.of miles up and down. You're talking about a 45 foot boat
:03:54. > :04:06.that came out of Fowey at four I remember looking at watches
:04:07. > :04:14.on two of the bodies, one said eight o'clock, one
:04:15. > :04:16.said 815. There was a massive air and sea
:04:17. > :04:25.search, probably the biggest Aircraft, helicopters,
:04:26. > :04:33.merchant ships, navy They only found a dinghy
:04:34. > :05:09.and a little bit of wreckage. One family had added an extra day to
:05:10. > :05:13.their holiday to take the trip. An engineer from Derby was lost with
:05:14. > :05:18.his fiancee. All former members of the Russell family, on holiday with
:05:19. > :05:23.their friends, the Mills. Albert Russell was a keen and experiences.
:05:24. > :05:29.Alex Scott, a cousin, was 13 when she lost four members of her family.
:05:30. > :05:37.She was abroad with her parents when it happened.
:05:38. > :05:45.My father got newspapers because he wanted to see
:05:46. > :05:48.I remember reading about the Darlwynne but at that stage,
:05:49. > :05:51.I don't think we realised Albert was on the boat although we knew
:05:52. > :06:00.Latterly, I can remember my parents saying, if we had turned over
:06:01. > :06:03.the page of the newspaper we would have known more.
:06:04. > :06:11.None of the cousins ever got over it because they lived next door to
:06:12. > :06:13.Albert, who was like a brother to them.
:06:14. > :06:17.We were fortunate in as far as three members of our family were found.
:06:18. > :06:21.Albert, Peggy and Pat were all found, but John was never found.
:06:22. > :06:25.It is still that disaster, shock and unnecessary waste
:06:26. > :06:31.There would have been panic, for sure.
:06:32. > :06:36.Children on board, the parents would have been concerned.
:06:37. > :06:40.A lot of passengers in a confined space.
:06:41. > :06:48.I can only begin to imagine what they must have gone through.
:06:49. > :06:51.A public enquiry began in December that year.
:06:52. > :07:00.The court of enquiry blames two men for the loss of the Darlwynne
:07:01. > :07:13.The skipper and the registered owner.
:07:14. > :07:17.John Barrett was ordered to pay ?500 towards the cost of the enquiry.
:07:18. > :07:20.The only penalty the panel could impose.
:07:21. > :07:32.Locals had accused the hotelier of profiting from the trip.
:07:33. > :07:35.He claimed to have been exonerated by the enquiry.
:07:36. > :07:47.Sincere regret that it ever happened and a feeling that it was probably
:07:48. > :07:51.one of these things that was due to happen anyway.
:07:52. > :07:57.I don't think there was anything wrong with the boat.
:07:58. > :08:04.I don't think that the boat contributed in any way to the loss.
:08:05. > :08:07.But with no survivors and no wreck site, the enquiry raised more
:08:08. > :08:16.They were given warnings, why go out?
:08:17. > :08:20.Such a lengthy trip on a boat that wasn't really fit for
:08:21. > :08:30.My mother would often be heard saying, it should
:08:31. > :08:47.Martin Banks has researched the tragedy and its impact.
:08:48. > :08:49.The effect on the villagers was immense because two
:08:50. > :08:51.of the village children were lost with the boat,
:08:52. > :09:00.Was the boat fit, were the crew licensed?
:09:01. > :09:05.The biggest mystery of all is where is the boat?
:09:06. > :09:16.They had a state of the art Cold War minesweeper
:09:17. > :09:21.and they expected to raise it very quickly.
:09:22. > :09:24.And therefore answer the questions as to what went wrong.
:09:25. > :09:29.Also to return the bodies to the families but after 18 months
:09:30. > :09:38.So, an extensive search by the Royal Navy found nothing.
:09:39. > :09:50.50 years on, our search would have the benefit of better
:09:51. > :09:54.charts, more sophisticated underwater technology,
:09:55. > :10:04.and we would also need a bit of luck.
:10:05. > :10:06.Mark and Nikolai and our are professional wreck finders
:10:07. > :10:11.This local story has particular resonance.
:10:12. > :10:15.It matters to me because Darlwyne has been forgotten.
:10:16. > :10:19.I'm a embarrassed to state that I'd never heard of it.
:10:20. > :10:23.Because it sunk after the World Cup final in 1966, there is this issue
:10:24. > :10:33.All wreck searches are special but this one is so recent
:10:34. > :10:36.and such a loss of life, it needs to be found
:10:37. > :10:44.The Darlwyne left Mylor for an uneventful
:10:45. > :10:50.At about one they arrived in Fowey where they spent a few hours.
:10:51. > :10:55.Ignoring news of an approaching storm, they left to return at around
:10:56. > :11:05.There were reports of several sightings on the coast.
:11:06. > :11:10.The timings suggest she was three or four hours
:11:11. > :11:20.That would put her in the area searched by the Navy in 1966.
:11:21. > :11:27.Mark and Nick think she may have been blown back by the storm
:11:28. > :11:32.towards Dodman Point where reefs and fast currents are notorious.
:11:33. > :11:34.We knew the boat would never have been found
:11:35. > :11:47.We had to think, if we were coming into a heavy Southwesterly sea,
:11:48. > :11:49.with those reefs there, what would we do?
:11:50. > :11:58.We know it left Fowey on its way to Mylor.
:11:59. > :12:04.You can see the overflows on the chart.
:12:05. > :12:07.That bit wasn't actually searched because you can't get
:12:08. > :12:27.You have got where people have looked, where haven't they look.
:12:28. > :12:35.The spread of the bodies, all to the east.
:12:36. > :12:39.That starts you eliminating these little squares.
:12:40. > :12:42.I think, the thing to say, if it's not in there,
:12:43. > :12:47.We've got the best chance of finding it ever with the information
:12:48. > :12:56.It would be exciting but it's quite a sombre
:12:57. > :13:03.What we are looking for is such a loss of life.
:13:04. > :13:05.Two months into our research, word reaches the team
:13:06. > :13:19.pulle dup wreckage of the Darlwyne in the 1970s.
:13:20. > :13:21.It would have been the summer of 1979.
:13:22. > :13:33.The pedestal that the ship's wheel was attached to.
:13:34. > :13:39.A greased pipe to the stern tube and a few sections of plank.
:13:40. > :13:50.I didn't suspect it was from the Darlwyne at the time.
:13:51. > :13:54.We took it back to Fowey which was our home port at the time.
:13:55. > :13:56.We were talking to the mechanic from the Fowey lifeboat
:13:57. > :14:07.The more I talked to him, the more he was saying, this matches.
:14:08. > :14:14.Even the paint was, apparently, correct.
:14:15. > :14:22.In a way, it's confirmed what we were thinking.
:14:23. > :14:24.It is in the area we were looking at.
:14:25. > :14:27.If anything, it's made our task more difficult but it's made it
:14:28. > :14:35.On the face of it, a lucky breakthrough.
:14:36. > :14:38.Though, if the wreckage recovered was from the Darlwyne it means
:14:39. > :14:46.there will be less on the sea bed for the divers to find.
:14:47. > :14:52.Early June, a break in the weather coincides with the right tides.
:14:53. > :14:54.The team assembles at Mylor ready to begin the underwater exploration.
:14:55. > :14:59.We've been looking into this for three months.
:15:00. > :15:04.This is hopefully going to see the end of the research
:15:05. > :15:14.It left from the quayside a few hundred yards away.
:15:15. > :15:17.The families of the lost are keen to know where it is.
:15:18. > :15:20.It is the completion of the story, if we find it.
:15:21. > :15:24.Even on a relatively calm summers day, this point is still
:15:25. > :15:30.Offshore currents and reefs have claimed numerous lives
:15:31. > :15:39.We are in the rough area that the trawlerman said.
:15:40. > :16:02.Looking at the chart, if something was trawled up
:16:03. > :16:05.by a scholar dredger, it's got to be where a scallop
:16:06. > :16:08.We need to start and let the current takers through.
:16:09. > :16:15.It is the right bearing but a lot further than he said.
:16:16. > :16:18.After 50 years, there won't be much left.
:16:19. > :16:28.Metal objects may have survived and Nick thinks
:16:29. > :16:30.the unusual ballast could be easy to spot.
:16:31. > :16:43.The granular texture is going to stand out.
:16:44. > :17:09.For their first series of dives, visibility is surprisingly good
:17:10. > :17:23.and the team quickly find the area that has been trawled.
:17:24. > :17:35.Scallop fishermen use heavy chains that plough the sea bed and they may
:17:36. > :17:37.have destroyed evidence of the wreck of the Darlwyne.
:17:38. > :17:40.Protocol requires divers to leave evidence of untouched so they have
:17:41. > :17:42.several cameras to record anything of interest.
:17:43. > :17:45.30 minutes into the first set of guides, Mark finds a piece
:17:46. > :18:04.Could it be granite ballast from the Darlwyne's hull?
:18:05. > :18:22.This is where he would have trawled it up if the story is true.
:18:23. > :18:28.Not far away, Nick makes a similar discovery.
:18:29. > :18:45.It had the granular texture on the surface.
:18:46. > :18:51.Having said that, we know that some of the wreckage was dredged up
:18:52. > :18:56.The evidence on the sea bed is of scallop dredging.
:18:57. > :19:02.I'd like to find something a little more conclusive but I think
:19:03. > :19:14.It's an encouraging start but the team is hoping to complete
:19:15. > :19:16.the search before the 50th anniversary of the tragedy in July.
:19:17. > :19:25.Will the weather allow another series of dives in time?
:19:26. > :19:29.Just a week before the anniversary weekend, the weather clears and Mark
:19:30. > :19:38.This time, the current is much stronger and the visibility
:19:39. > :19:44.Knowing the geography of the sea bed, Mark heads straight for the end
:19:45. > :19:50.Anything dragged along by the scallop fishermen
:19:51. > :20:00.Once again, there are areas where the sea bed has been stripped bare.
:20:01. > :20:14.It's an unlikely place to find wreckage.
:20:15. > :20:17.30 minutes into the dive, as Mark is beginning to think
:20:18. > :20:21.about returning to the surface, he starts to find what
:20:22. > :20:32.Various pieces of mackerel work, ironwork.
:20:33. > :20:39.A fisherman's anchor, about four feet long, two feet wide.
:20:40. > :20:50.The sort of thing you'd expect from a smaller vessel.
:20:51. > :20:56.One piece of timber that looked like it had been recently uncovered.
:20:57. > :21:03.It had been under the ironwork for a good few years
:21:04. > :21:15.It was a timber ship with steel fittings.
:21:16. > :21:19.We know there would have been Darlwyne steel.
:21:20. > :21:32.That was the right size of anchor that the Darlwyne was carrying.
:21:33. > :21:35.The fisherman's anchor was flat in the sea bed
:21:36. > :21:39.What I saw was probably spread over no more than 20 - 30 feet.
:21:40. > :21:42.Again, that says it was a smaller vessel.
:21:43. > :21:49.It's the right size for the Darlwyne.
:21:50. > :21:52.Best guess is because we have nothing else of the age in the area
:21:53. > :21:54.that we know has sunk, so a very good chance
:21:55. > :22:05.They may have found the wreck of the Darlwyne but their thoughts
:22:06. > :22:11.What will their families feel and what does our finding reveal
:22:12. > :22:27.about the dreadful events of 30 years ago?
:22:28. > :22:31.Captain Mike Evans is a Marine accident investigator
:22:32. > :22:40.There were witness statements from along the shore that indicated
:22:41. > :22:46.The fact that it got to be area of the point tells is a lot
:22:47. > :22:50.about the passage and it's already an area of serious overflows.
:22:51. > :22:55.The sea state would have been highly confused, high waves.
:22:56. > :22:58.If anything was wrong, it would soon have been found out
:22:59. > :23:01.and that wreckage indicates that is where it started
:23:02. > :23:12.An early morning in Mevagissey harbour.
:23:13. > :23:16.The weekend of the 50th anniversary of the loss of the Darlwyne.
:23:17. > :23:18.Families of those who died have travelled to Cornwall
:23:19. > :23:27.Our discovery means a chance at last to visit the spot where her cousins
:23:28. > :23:39.The short trip from Mevagissey retraces the final
:23:40. > :23:51.Nick shows them the footage of the wreck site.
:23:52. > :23:56.We truly believe that is the right location.
:23:57. > :24:09.This was never going to be a forensic dive.
:24:10. > :24:11.We were never going to say "this happened."
:24:12. > :24:19.It's a beautiful bit of sea bed, a resting place for people and I'm
:24:20. > :24:26.Over the wreck site, a moment of reflection for Alex
:24:27. > :24:54.A rose for each of the 31 souls lost on the Darlwyne.
:24:55. > :24:59.I feel it was an unnecessary loss of life.
:25:00. > :25:02.A lot of families perished that should not have perished.
:25:03. > :25:05.The more we find out, the worse it seems to get
:25:06. > :25:15.We've said our goodbyes and hopefully the families can now
:25:16. > :25:26.When the flowers went in the water, it was a lump in the throat moment.
:25:27. > :25:31.I got hooked into this story by the people.
:25:32. > :25:36.It was never going to be a spectacular wreck but the personal
:25:37. > :25:47.Which was to find a grave site and allow these people closure