A leading fisherman has revealed his “family unit was destroyed” when his father was killed in a devastating trawler tragedy.
John McLeman drowned when his boat, the Heather Bloom, sank off the coast of Shetland in 1994.
His crewman son, Sandy, who was 18 at the time, survived the sinking by clambering onto the boat’s liferaft.
Now Mr McLeman has opened up about the heartbreaking moment as part of a TV documentary about north-east fishing crews.
Broadcaster and ex-reality star Ben Fogle was in Peterhead earlier this year to film the programme, Trawlermen’s Lives, which will be broadcast this evening.
As part of the shoot, he joined Mr McLeman on his Inverness-registered Rose Bloom for a four-day expedition into the North Atlantic.
During the programme, Mr McCleman is asked about his father’s death.
“There were six of us on the boat and five of us were saved,” he said. “My father was sadly lost.
“It was all over so fast, before we’d even realised anything was wrong.”
The 48-year-old added: “It really rocked our whole world. That was our family unit destroyed.
“It was just devastating really for us. That’s how cruel the ocean is.”
Mr Fogle said he wanted to look at what drew men into one of the world’s most dangerous professions.
Speaking to the Press and Journal in January, Mr Fogle admitted he had “mixed sentiments” about the project, which will involve him carrying out the usual tasks associated with life at sea.
He said: “I love the sea and I love boats, but I don’t know if I’m going to love trawlers. It’s going to be hard going.”
Father-of-two Mr Fogle, who first made his name in the 2000 reality show Castaway, visited Peterhead fishmarket during his visit and met skipper Peter Bruce, who is no stranger to TV personalities. Last year, he took celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on a North Sea trip to examine cod stocks.
In preparation for his show Fogle had to undertake a sea survival course at Poole Harbour in Dorset, a prerequisite of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for anyone about to spent time working at sea.
In the hour-long show, which airs on STV at 8pm, Fogle says: “I have taken on some real challenges in the past, rowing the Atlantic, crossing the Arabian Desert, but this is going to be a completely different task.
“Over the last 15 years, over 250 British fishermen have lost their lives at sea, making this one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.”