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[O.304 Laermans]

The identical sister vessel of the O.305 François Musin was the O.304 Laermans, also built at Beliard for the N.V. Motorvisserij.

Laermans
[O.304 Laermans at sea, photographer unknown]

Her last trip

On 18th October 1949 she left Ostend, bound for the Doggerbank. She would spend ten days at sea and would return on 28th October 1949. She must have arrived at the fishing area around the 19th or 20th October. On 21st October, her sister ship the O.305 François Musin tried to contact her, but with no success.

On the 23th October, the captain of the O.88 Curie noticed a mine was floating around and warned the other vessels in the area (O.305 François Musin, O.293, 0.299, O.92, O.85 and the Moroccan trawler Zahine) for the mine. The next day, the Zahine disappeared with no trace, she probably hit the mine and sank.

In the night of the 23th and 24th October, there was a big storm of 11 Beaufort on the Doggerbank area, so all vessel had to enter the nearby harbors. On the 27th October, a lifeboat of the Zahine was found by an English cargo vessel, 40 miles east of the Humber.

The crew of the YM.62 Mary claimed to have seen the O.304 Laermans fishing in the area 54°50' North and 0° 50' East on the 27th October 1949.

The O.305 François Musin returned from the Doggerbank on 23th October 2005 and entered Ostend on the 25th October 1949.

Till now, there is still no trace of the O.304 Laermans or her ten crew members:

  1. Georges Verburgh, Captain
  2. Frans Vanhoucke,
  3. Arthur Hubrechtsen
  4. Victor Eylandt
  5. Walter Debruyne
  6. Robert Deburggraeve
  7. Roger Dyck
  8. Camiel Verburgh
  9. Gérard Vandenbergen
  10. Lucien Morlion

The conclusion of the maritime commission

The council took three possible causes into consideration:

  1. Explosion of the engine
  2. Collision
  3. Explosion of a mine

They have never been able to put a date on the sinking of the Laermans. The last messages were dating from 20th October 1949. A dutch boat had seen the Laermans on 27th October, but this was never proven.

The costs of the investigation were paid by the Belgian Government.

Explosion of the engine

The press wrote many articles about the mall function engines of the vessel and the complains of previous crew members of the Laermans. During the investigation of the cause of the sinking, Mr. F. Stefens looked into the logbook of the previous trips and didn't find anything relevant.

Collision

Since the Zahine disappeared in the same area as the Laermans caused people to believe both ships had a collision. The last messages from the Zahine are dating from 23th October, while her lifeboat was found on 27th October. Because of the bad weather, it was not possible that the collision happened on 27h October and that the lifeboat would still be at the same position.

Explosion of a mine

Shortly after the O.88 found a mine, several other mines were discovered by Dutch trawlers in the area

 

(c) Frederic Logghe - 2005-2007
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