Story behind Maryport shipwreck uncovered

The Jean-Paul sank around the anniversary of the death of its owner

The history behind a shipwreck spotted on the west Cumbrian coast has been uncovered.

On Sunday, families out on a stroll, dog walkers and day trippers were surprised to see the remains of an old fishing boat on the beach in Maryport, close to the lighthouse.

It was being dismantled by contractors on Monday.

The 1960s boat, called Jean-Paul, belonged to the late Simon Woodall, from Devon, who bought it seven years ago and had dreamt of converting it into a home.

His son Edgar said: "He saw a great challenge and a dream home one day.

"He died last winter and we've been left with this, trying to figure out whether we can try and continue this dream for him, or whether it's time to call it quits."

He said two days between the anniversary of his father's death, on the full moon, the Jean-Paul sank.

Contractors dismantled the fishing boat on Monday

"That was quite spooky - it felt like his way of giving us an answer, really," he added.

"A lot of them end out at sea where they get sunk, which wasn't an option for us, because that wasn't our dad.

"It was like - how can we honour him?"

'People abandon them'

Colin Glaister, co-owner of Maryport Groundworks, the contractors responsible for removing the fishing boat, said his firm often deal with shipwrecks and boats that have fallen into disrepair.

He added: "Once a fishing licence is gone on a boat, we tend to find that people abandon them in Maryport, and I don't know why Maryport?

"The harbour and marina get lumbered with them and that's when we get pulled in to finish them off."

A dog walker, who had been watching the dismantling and clear-up efforts, said she found the process fascinating.

A local dog-walker said the clear-up efforts were impressive

"It was really impressive, they sort of pulled it out of the sea, then they got one of the diggers pushing it and another one was pulling it, and they just managed to glide it up the beach."

She added: "What's even more impressive is that once they've finished this process, they clean up so fantastically afterwards, so you wouldn't actually know that any of this had been going on at all."