Concern in Devon Over Sinking of ‘Ireland Bound’ Vessels Sold for £1

2nd November 2025

Afloat.ie Team

The Faithful leaving Brixham with a yacht tied to its side on 7 October; the source of this photograph has yet to be confirmed

Two boats allegedly bound for Ireland after being sold for £1 were sunk by HM Coastguard in a busy Devon shipping lane last month, as BBC News reports.

Two people were rescued from the former fishing vessel Faithful in early October after it began taking on water.

It emerged that the Faithful, which has also recently been used as an AirBnB rental, and a smaller accompanying yacht had been purchased from Brixham Marina for only £1 after both boats were deemed abandoned.

But their sinking by the coastguard — which cited a potential “massive maritime hazard” — has caused consternation with local fishers, who expressed concern that their trawler nets might catch on the wreck site, as well as environmentalists who noted the two tonnes of diesel still in the main vessel’s fuel tanks.

BBC News has more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.