FIVE local fishermen escaped with their lives when their trawler was blown out of the water by a wartime mine in 1988.

The 26 year-old boat was wrecked, but stayed afloat as the shaken crew reached shore unhurt.

And they praised the sturdy construction of the 80-ft Niblick.

‘It saved our lives. A more modern boat would not have been so strong and could have been holed and sunk right away,’ said 21-year-old crewman Martin Salmon, son of the owner George Salmon.

The crew were fishing about four miles off Lowestoft in the North Sea, when the mine became entangled in the nets.

It exploded about 20 feet away, and Martin said: ‘There was a terrific bang and the boat lifted out of the water. My dad was blown out of the wheelhouse, and we hit the ceiling of the galley.

‘We did not know what it was at first. We thought we might have hit a coaster, then we saw a huge spout of water like a depth charge, a few feet away.

‘Oil and mud came up with the water and we then realised it might have been a mine. All the electrics were gone, but we managed to put out a distress call to the coastguards using a battery-operated radio telephone.’

Lifeboats and a helicopter were scrambled, but the Belgium-built Niblick stayed afloat and made it into Lowestoft with a tow from another trawler.

When they arrived back in Teignmouth Martin said the boat was twisted by the explosion, and was a write-off.

‘I have been at sea since I left school, and just after it happened I vowed’ I would never go back again. But now I have decided I will go back. It is something you always fear will happen.’

Mr Salmon senior’s wife Anna said she was just thankful nobody had been injured.

‘We can replace the boat, but I could easily have lost a husband and son.

‘George is very upset because he loved that boat. He skippered it for 10 years and owned it for the past five, and spent thousands of pounds on improvements and renovations.

‘It is worth about a quarter of a million pounds, and hopefully we are fully covered by insurance.’

The other members of the crew were Trevor Hall, Richard Kovacs and Roger Winsborrow.