Graham Smith told his story in some detail for The Yorkshire Post as it unfolded.

Freelance Graham Smith from Yeadon near Leeds sparked the ire of the MoD after reporting that a former – then anonymous – Royal Navy chief petty officer had contacted the crew’s families to say that, a few years after the Gaul sank in 1974, he had heard the captain of a nuclear Polaris submarine confess that they had become caught in trawler’s nets, sinking the fishing vessel. He had been approached with the suspicion during the third week of the – currently adjourned – inquiry into the vessel’s sinking.

He forwarded a statement from the ex-mariner to the inquiry and to the counsel to the UK Attorney General, Nigel Meeson, who declared it to be no more than a "publicity stunt".

When he had passed on the allegations, he reported them on his website.

Summons
Very quickly, he found himself on the receiving end of a summons from the government’s official Treasury solicitor, Laurence O’Dea, demanding that he should reveal this source.

The UK National Union of Journalists sprang into action. Although he had been ordered to produce his documents, recordings and notes – under the Merchant Shipping Act and the Magistrates Court Act – in London in May, union lawyers successfully intervened. The summons was postponed and then withdrawn.

The NUJ believed that this was the first case of a journalist being ordered to reveal the source of a story broken online.

The MoD’s frustration did not, however, end there.

More revelations
Former CPO Derek Barron revealed his identity himself after speaking to the families at a public meeting at Trinity and All Saints’ College in Leeds in early June.

There, he revealed more about his suspicions. He had been at HMS Dolphin, the Royal Navy’s submarine base in Gosport, Hampshire, when he had overheard a more senior officer "confess" his emotions regarding a "net snag" incident in the Barents Sea many years before.

Former CPO Barron was careful to stress that he was revealing this conversation and could make no claims for its veracity.

History
However, the Royal Navy’s submarines do have a history of snagging fishing vessels’ nets.

While some crews did have the time and ability to cut the lines and abandon their costly nets and their valuable hauls, others were not so fortunate; ships were sunk and crew members did drown.

Most of the incidents that reached the public domain have been in the Irish Sea, on the approaches to the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine base at Faslane, on the Clyde estuary.

Statement
After his meeting with the Gaul families, Mr Barron voluntarily have a statement to Mr O’Dea which he said he would sign and very when he was happy with it.

"Unless he had given such a statement, the intimation from the Treasury Solicitor’s office was quite clear: they would not take his statement into account," Graham Smith said.

Two weeks later, Graham posted another story online suggesting that other sources and "revelations" were being investigated.

Rapid response
Within hours, Graham said, we received a fax from Mr O’Dea saying: "I understand you have been contacted by an additional witness and (I) should be grateful if you provide me with details of the witness and what you understand that they may have seen or heard on February 8, 1974."

He then went on to suggest that Graham should "impress upon (his sources) the importance of their giving any relevant evidence to the inquiry".

"This," the lawyer continued, "should not impact on any work you wish also to carry out.

"Please confirm that you will notify the witness of my interest and provide them with my contact details and request that they contact me so that I can assess their evidence," he concluded.

Integrity
Six days later, Mr O’Dea wrote again, demanding a reply, adding: "I am a little concerned that your website confirms that you intend to provide me with some information when 'appropriate'."

Clearly, as Graham Smith stressed in acknowledging this second letter: "You will obviously read anything I place on the website with alacrity."

While his first witness has now made himself public, Graham has stood by his first point of principle: "I had no intention of putting this witness’s liberty or integrity in jeopardy," he said.

"The Treasury Solicitor’s department should be investigating the content of the Chief Petty Officer’s interview rather than pursuing his identity, although it would appear they do not now intend to attach due credence to what this very sincere man has had to say. The Gaul families will doubtless reach their own conclusion about that," Graham Smith said.

Official inertia
The inquiry, which was sitting in Hull until it was adjourned recently, was set up only two years ago after, Graham emphasised, the "dogged enquiries of a handful of investigative reporters" eventually overcame official inertia.

Over the years, there have been persistent claims that the Gaul was a spy ship, carrying surveillance equipment to monitor the Russian navy in the Arctic seas north of the port of Murmansk.

It has also been reported that there were MI6 personnel on board who were not included in the vessel’s records.

Indeed, there has been official confirmation in the past that North Sea trawlers were used for espionage.

Once again, the Ministry of Defence has prompted to increase public suspicions and bring its own integrity into question.

Reluctance
"Why," asked Graham in the Yorkshire Post on June 8, "is there a reluctance to investigate, to reveal the location of our patrolling Polaris submarines at the time and to provide a categorical and proven denial that the content of my interview (with the then anonymous Derek Barron) cannot be true?

"Only that will satisfy the members of the Gaul families who have long listened to rumour and conjecture about the Gaul’s real role at the height of the Cold War."

Since the sinking, journalists have continued trying to find the truth.

Many found their endeavours thwarted by official agencies, government and politicians.

Indeed, the ship’s wreck was not found by an official search, but by a crew from Anglia Television.

High-handed
In the past, the MoD’s response to potential criticism has been nothing if not high-handed.

Scares about trawlers sinkings in the Irish Sea or helicopter crashes near the Mull of Kintyre have provoked rebuttals that have undermined genuine concerns and the integrity of servicemen and women whose records and dedication had, until then, been unblemished.

"House-trained" politicians have then rushed to protect the top-brass and senior officials.

Graham Smith, it seems, has been but the latest journalist to find himself the target of such misplaced energy.

He did, however, have the NUJ to turn to. As for the union: "I am delighted with the way the NUJ has represented me ... (over) a principle of such importance to every journalist," he said.

Written for Leeds News, the newsletter of the Leeds Branch of the National Union of Journalists, June 2004.

Graham Smith's own website MediaWorldNews includes more information about his long involvement with the Gaul saga and links to other information sources.