Sadly, in the wake of the 'Meridian' tragedy, we have another local fishing boat lost at sea.
The "Unity", which is one of the smaller sized fishing boats of around 30 ft. in length, was on its way from Brixham in Devon to Weymouth in Dorset, and had just rounded Portland Bill when it began to take in water. Distress signals were put out and two of the crew, Fergus Middleton (19) and Graeme Hughes (20), boarded a life raft.
The skipper, John Bowman (45), decided to remain in the wheelhouse for the time being, but the vessel capsized and John Bowman was trapped and was drowned. The two crew members were picked up later by the Weymouth lifeboat. The "Unity" had been taken down to the south coast of England on the back of a lorry and I have been told that it was there fishing for cuttlefish.
John Bowman, who was always known as "Papa" from his primary school days, was unmarried and lived with his parents in Pickford Crescent, which is just at the back of my mum and dad's house. My mum taught him when he attended Pittenweem Primary School, when the family lived in Pittenweem. His father and grandfather were the Bowmans who owned the fishing boat "Incentive" in Pittenweem.
The name "Unity" is of particular importance to my family as it was the name of my great-grandfather's steam herring drifter.
Once again, I feel so sad after hearing this tragic news and my thoughts are with John Bowman's family at this time.

Jimmy,i spoke to John just before he set off to go down south.He went because he was fed up catching "small shite" up here.John was always willing to try something different,and was looking forward to his stint down south.My thoughts are with all his family.