When Imperial Russia went to war with Imperial Japan in 1904, most of the Russian Navy was based in the Baltic and had to be sent off on the Grand Imperial Voyage right round Africa, and just about everwhere else, in order to get to grips with the enemy. By the time they reached the North Sea, it was already further than most of the ships and crews had ever travelled, so when they stumbled in fog on North Sea trawlers fishing the Dogger Bank, they assumed it was the enemy and opened fire, "accidentally" killing at least two trawlermen.
Thus the weekend story about a Russian frigate firing warning shots above an adjacent British cruiser heading across the English Channel under sail has got everyone a bit jittery, and a crew who shall be
nameless (we don't want any "We Know Where You Live" situation in the current febrile times) have sent us on these pics taken on Sunday afternoon while on passage back from the Isle of Man towards the greater Dublin area. They show a flagless soundless warship heading north at a brisk pace, with the entrance to Carlingford Lough visible in the hazy distance.
They think it was a British ship, but who knows? As to the situation in the English Channel, it seems the Russian frigate was more or less stopped, but otherwise it's timely to remind everyone that there's an
old Law of the Sea abut power giving way to sail. Frankly, it's not a law I've ever felt inclined to rely on when in the vicinity of a seemingly un-manned ship on the high seas, particularly one with Russian
associations. Their entire Baltic fleet may have been sunk by the Japanes within one day of their arrival in the Far East in 1904, but the contempt of their government for the sanctity of individual human life
is a chiling thought, even on a sunny afternoon in the Irish Sea.
Mystery ship is safely gone on her way
