French trawler accidentally catches Portuguese submarine
A French trawler has caught a rather big fish – a Portuguese submarine taking part in a training mission off the British coast, maritime authorities reported.
This may sound like a silly idea for revenge following France’s loss to Portugal in the Euro finals, but the Portuguese submarine Tridente really did get stuck in the nets of the French trawler Daytona on Tuesday, Portugal’s Armed Forces General Staff said.
The incident occurred in the British waters, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) southeast of Lizard Point, southwestern England.
The submarine was below the surface when it came too close to Daytona, a trawler registered in the northwestern French port of Saint-Brieuc, which was fishing in the area.
“The submarine immediately surfaced and made contact with the trawler,” French maritime authorities said in a statement.
Luckily, the episode ended without injuries or damage to the submarine or trawler. It took the sailors two hours to untangle the net.
These kinds of incidents are quite common at sea. For example, in 2015, a UK submarine damaged a trawler after dragging it through the Irish Sea at a speed of 10 knots near the south-east shore of Northern Ireland.
Another similar situation with a worse ending took place in 2004 when five crew members died as the French trawler Bugaled Breizh went down near Lizard Point. It was dragged down by a submarine engaged into military exercises in the area, according to the relatives of the victims.
That case still hasn’t been resolved and is yet to be considered by the British courts.
