Sign-In
Cart
The Antares Disaster
Paperback
Publisher: J.F. Publishing
Published: Oct 16 2025
Pages: 248
Weight: 0.64
Height: 0.52 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
The Antares Disaster
On the night of November 21, 1990, the fishing vessel Antares left the small Scottish village of Carradale for what should have been a routine night's work in the Firth of Clyde. Aboard were four men: skipper Jamie Russell, Billy Martindale, Dugald John Campbell, and Stewart Campbell. By dawn, all four were dead, their boat dragged to the bottom after its trawl lines were snagged by HMS Trenchant, a Royal Navy nuclear submarine conducting training exercises in the same waters.
The disaster that followed exposed a web of institutional failures: inadequate watchkeeping on a submarine whose command team was distracted during a high-stakes training course, fatal assumptions about surface vessels that led to an eight-hour delay in launching a search and rescue operation, and a culture of military secrecy that prioritized operational security over civilian safety. Four men paid with their lives for negligence that official investigations would later confirm was entirely preventable.
The Antares Disaster tells the complete story of this tragedy for the first time, combining meticulous investigation with intimate human narrative. Drawing on Marine Accident Investigation Branch reports, Fatal Accident Inquiry proceedings, court martial transcripts, and extensive interviews with survivors, family members, and maritime experts, this book reconstructs the collision minute by minute while exploring the institutional failures that made it possible.
But this is more than an account of a single disaster. It is the story of a small Scottish fishing community devastated by sudden loss, of families fighting for accountability in the face of institutional resistance, of a legal system that punished individual error while protecting systemic failure. It examines the hidden costs of military operations in civilian waters, the democratic deficit in how those operations are governed, and the ongoing challenge of shared seas where fishing boats and submarines must coexist.
From the cramped control room of HMS Trenchant to the grief-stricken homes of Carradale, from the courtroom drama of the court martial to the quiet dignity of annual memorial services, The Antares Disaster reveals how four ordinary men doing dangerous work became victims of extraordinary negligence and how their deaths forced changes that continue to shape submarine operations more than three decades later.
This is investigative journalism and maritime history, but it is also a deeply human story about loss, memory, and the cost of institutional failure. It asks uncomfortable questions about accountability, about the balance between national security and public safety, and about what we owe to those who work in dangerous professions while institutions tasked with protecting them fail in that duty.
Jamie Russell, Billy Martindale, Dugald John Campbell, and Stewart Campbell went to work on a November night. They trusted that those sharing their waters would act with due care. That trust was misplaced. This is their story.
Also in
Boating
Titanic: The Ship Magnificent - Volume Two: Interior Design and Fitting Out
Beveridge, Bruce
Braunschweiger, Art
Hall, Steve
Hardcover
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (National Book Award Winner)
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Sobel, Dava
Paperback
The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism
Bacon, John U.
Paperback
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
Sides, Hampton
Paperback
Island of the Lost: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World
Druett, Joan
Paperback
Ashley Book of Knots: Every Practical Knot--What It Looks Like, Who Uses It, Where It Comes From, and How to Tie It
Ashley, Clifford
Hardcover
Modern Marine Weather: From Time-honored Traditional Knowledge to the Latest Technology
Burch, David
Paperback
The Band That Played on: The Extraordinary Story of the 8 Musicians Who Went Down with the Titanic
Turner, Steve
Paperback
Long Term Almanac 2000-2050: For the Sun and Selected Stars With Concise Sight Reduction Tables, 2nd Edition
Kolbe, Geoffrey
Paperback
On a Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of the RMS Titanic
Wormstedt, Bill
Layton, Kent
Fitch, Tad
Paperback
Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and Her Missing Crew
Hicks, Brian
Paperback
Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures: Great Lakes: Legends And Lore, Pirates And More!
Varhola, Michael
Paperback
The Lost Boys of Montauk: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind
Fairbanks, Amanda M.
Paperback
Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro
Slade, Rachel
Paperback
Deadliest Sea: The Untold Story Behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History
Thompson, Kalee
Paperback
Navigation Rules and Regulations Handbook
United States Coast Guard
Department of Homeland Security
Hardcover
The Captain, The Missionary, and the Bell: The Wreck of the Steamship Atlantic
Larsson, Eric
Paperback
The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale: First-Person Accounts
Chase, Owen
Nickerson, Thomas
Paperback
American Small Sailing Craft: Their Design, Development and Construction
Chapelle, Howard I.
Hardcover
Shipwrecks of the Pacific Northwest: Tragedies and Legacies of a Perilous Coast
Maritime Archaeological Society
Hardcover
Secrets of the Viking Navigators: How the Vikings Used Their Amazing Sunstones and Other Techniques to Cross the Open Ocean
Karlsen, Leif K.
Paperback
We, the Navigators: The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific (Second Edition)
Lewis, David
Paperback
Inland and Coastal Navigation: For Power-driven and Sailing Vessels, 2nd Edition
Burch, David
Paperback
Fifty Ships That Changed the Course of History: A Nautical History of the World
Graham, Ian
Paperback
Navigation Rules And Regulations Handbook (Color Print): Containing International & Inland Rules
United States Coast Guard
Department of Homeland Security
Paperback
The Great Lakes Ships of Frank E. Kirby: America's Greatest Naval Architect
Gebhart, Richard
Paperback
Fatal Treasure: Greed and Death, Emeralds and Gold, and the Obsessive Search for the Legendary Ghost Galleon Atocha
Smith, Jedwin
Paperback
The Complete Yachtmaster 11th Edition: Sailing, Seamanship and Navigation for the Modern Yacht Skipper
Cunliffe, Tom
Hardcover
The Death Ship: Recovering the Bodies of Titanic's Dead
Victoria Brown, Victoria
Brown, Victoria
Hardcover
The Star Finder Book: A Complete Guide to the Many Uses of the 2102-D Star Finder
Burch, David
Paperback
Boatbuilding: A Complete Handbook of Wooden Boat Construction (Revised)
Chapelle, Howard I.
Hardcover
Navigation Workbook 1210 Tr: For Power-Driven and Sailing Vessels
Brandt, Larry
Burch, David
Paperback
Too Much Sea for Their Decks: Shipwrecks of Minnesota's North Shore and Isle Royale
Schumacher, Michael
Paperback
Submarine Aircraft Carriers: From World War I to the Age of Drones
Polmar, Norman
Gunnarson, Jacob
Hardcover
Starpath Celestial Navigation Work Forms: For All Sights and Tables, with Complete Instructions and Examples
Burch, David
Paperback
Long Term Almanac 2000-2050: For the Sun and Selected Stars With Concise Sight Reduction Tables, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)
Kolbe, Geoffrey
Hardcover
Guardians of the North: Canadian Warships and Maritime Aircraft, 1910-2025
Gagnon, Karl
Gimblett, Richard H.
Hardcover
Sailing a Serious Ocean: Sailboats, Storms, Stories and Lessons Learned from 30 Years at Sea
Kretschmer, John
Hardcover
Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea
Tougias, Michael J.
Paperback
Shipwreck Rescues of the Outer Banks: Sensational Wrecks and Heroic Rescues by the United States Life-Saving Service
Charlet, James D.
Hardcover
101 Things You Thought You Knew about the Titanic . . . but Didn't!
Aston, Eloise
Maltin, Tim
Paperback
Nagato-Class Battleships 1920-46: The Imperial Japanese Navy's Super-Dreadnoughts
Draminski, Stefan
Paperback
The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II
Watson, Robert P.
Paperback
The Wreck of the Portland: A Doomed Ship, a Violent Storm, and New England's Worst Maritime Disaster
Conway, J. North
Paperback
The Troller Yacht Book: How to Cross Oceans Without Getting Wet or Going Broke - 2nd Edition
Buehler, George
Hardcover
From Novembers to Sierras: Soviet Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarines
Vilches Alarcón, Alejandro A.
Paperback
Advanced Marine Electrics and Electronics Troubleshooting: A Manual for Boatowners and Marine Technicians
Sherman, Ed
Hardcover
Modern Marine Weather: From Time-honored Traditional Knowledge to the Latest Technology
Burch, David
Hardcover
Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do
Tougias, Michael J.
Paperback
Blackbeard's Sunken Prize: The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne's Revenge
Carnes-McNaughton, Linda F.
Wilde-Ramsing, Mark U.
Paperback
Navigation Workbook 18465 Tr: For Power-Driven and Sailing Vessels
Burch, David
Brandt, Larry
Paperback
Instant Boatbuilding with Dynamite Payson: 15 Instant Boats for Power, Sail, Oar, and Paddle
Payson, Harold H.
Paperback
Hawaii by Sextant: An In-Depth Exercise in Celestial Navigation Using Real Sextant Sights and Logbook Entries
Miller, Stephen
Burch, David
Paperback
Inland and Coastal Navigation: For Power-driven and Sailing Vessels, 2nd Edition
Burch, David
Hardcover
Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop Who Survived Both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters
Jessop, Violet
Paperback
From the Center of America: Steamboats and Shipyards Along the Lower Ohio River
Swenson, Robert H.
Paperback
Boat Crew Seamanship Manual (COMDTINST M16114.5C)
U. S. Department of Homeland Security
United States Coast Guard
Paperback
The Shipwright and the Schooner: Building a Windjammer in the New England Tradition
Burnham, Harold
Paperback
The HERO Way: The Untamed Life and Enduring Legacy of an Iconic Antarctic Research Vessel
Lagerbom, Charles H.
Hardcover
Wreck of the Carl D.: A True Story of Loss, Survival, and Rescue at Sea
Schumacher, Michael
Paperback