Solway Harvester in Douglas

Happy to be finally leaving Isle of Man and heading home to loved ones. Parked up waiting to board the Manannan SeaCat ferry to Liverpool leaving at 15:00, and out for a quick stroll and some fresh air.

Sad because we had also been told to go and have a look in Douglas harbour at this rusted hulk of the Scallop Dredger Solway Harvester that had foundered and sunk off the island in 2000 with the sad loss of 7 crew. Out of Kirkcudbright, Scotland it had been harvesting scallops from the queenie grounds off Ramsey Bay that Isle of Man is so famous for, when it had been swamped in a severe gale. The gales and sea state of yesterday came to mind. Really sad and chilling to see it just sat there so far from home and the crews family.

Postscript: It seems that to the huge credit of the island, the Solway Harvester had been located, salvaged and then raised from the sea bed in a £1 million operation funded by the Isle of Man Government. This generosity caused much criticism of the Scottish Parliament for not doing more. The boat then sat in the harbour in Douglas until a 2003 inquest ruling, said the boat had flooded and capsized due to maintenance negligence and equipment failures.

The sad fact is that here she is, still moored in Douglas harbour today, some 12 years after the sinking.

A memorial has been erected on Douglas Head, but more should be done by the Scottish Government than just letting this sad hull sit neglected and rust away uncared for - even if it is just towed out to deep water and scuttled and then treated as a sunken memorial, similar to HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow.