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A partial translation, from Swedish into English, of the Swedish newspaper articles referred to at the bottom of the
Captaine Louis Malbert listing, which listing can be found
here.
We thank Birgitta Sadler, of Toronto, Canada, for her fine translation.
What happened?
On the morning of Dec. 30, 1963, while en route, in dense fog, from Hartlepool,
U.K., to Aarhus,
Denmark,
with a cargo of coal, Capitaine Louis Malbert was in collision with
Rosborg, a Danish tanker. At 57.02.367N/12.00.016E, 10 miles SW of Varberg, Sweden.
Joseph Huet, the captain of Capitaine Louis Malbert,
attempted to beach the vessel but in so doing the ship vanished into the fog. The
vessel sank 6 hours after the collision. Eight lives were lost & the bodies of two of the
eight were never recovered. While Captain Huet was one of the two crew members whose
body was not recovered, I do not think that I know the name of the second crew
member. Nor the exact location of the wreck.
Fishermen find a skull in their net.
Could be the remains of one of the
eight dead on 'Capitaine Louis Malbert'
Fishermen from Nordland have found an
unusual catch - a human skull.
Now it is up to police forensics to
sort out the origin of the skull.
The theory is that it is from one of the
men on Capitaine Louise Malbert, the French collier
that one December night in 1963 sank off the coast of Halland (a
province on the west coast of Sweden) where eight seamen lost their lives.
The
shipwreck of the French vessel is a well known reference point for fishermen from Halland.
Fisherman Bertil Anderson from Nordland has
set out numerous
traps around the French vessel, at Lilla Middlegrund, without giving much thought to
the boats fate.
After a fishing trip in the beginning of June he is
looking at it in a whole different way. 'We had done a few turns around the
wreck and I was standing in the front of the boat sorting the catch. When we
emptied the net we discovered a skull along with the sea crayfish.
I have been fishing
for 37 years and have never seen anything like it. Bertil said 'you can't help to be
effected even if this is old'.
When we arrived back on land we handed over
our catch to the police in Varberg. The skull is now in a brown paper bag
waiting to be sent to the medical experts in Stockholm.
We don't know
more than anyone else. First we need to establish its age, then we will see what
information
the skull can provide, says Inspector Tommy Fälth, who
assures us the find is not connected to any crime.
The discovery of a skull in the net has been a hot topic of conversation among
the fishermen in Nordland. Many are convinced that the skull comes from one of
the men on Capitaine Louis Malbert, the French collier which one December
night sank outside the coast of Halland. In which eight men died.
The shipwreck-
located only 9 sea miles outside the coast of Halland off Trälövsläge - is a popular place for divers. No body parts had so far been located
in the area.
Bertil Anderson's theory is that the skull has been covered in
mud on the sea bottom and had therefore been preserved during the 40 + years since
the accident.
The shipwreck is well intact and it is relatively easy to get
close to it. The skull has possibly been covered by the boat and only now come
dislodged and ended up in our net. If it is indeed from the French shipwreck we
are thinking of the families. Even if forty years has gone by it can be
important to get answers. It would be great if this discovery could help
someone. There is a list of name and age and residence of the seamen (follows).
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Those who died aboard
Capitaine Louis Malbert
Joseph Huet, Captain, age 52, Saint-Malo
Raphaël Rochard, Chief Engineer, age 30, Le Tronchet
Pierre Georges,
engineer, age 30, Saint-Méloir des Ondes
Pierre Julien, helmsman, age 50, Penhars-Quimper
Jules Lesaignoux, helmsman, aged 20, Pleslin
Alphonse Le Polles, sailor.
aged 24, Plouezec
Marcel Penneman, ?, age 27, Beuzec cap Sizun
Claude
Malherbe, sailor, aged 35, home data withheld
One helpful thing in solving this is that the names of the
eight seamen are available. (Webmaster's note:
the list is above).
In the records that include a French survivor's account written a month after the accident, we know that of
the eight men that died seven jumped overboard before the ship sank. It seems
reasonable that they were caught by the tide and floated away. Only one person
was left onboard. The ship's captain Joseph Huet, age 52, from Saint-Malo,
refused to jump ship & went down with the Capitaine Louis Malbert.
Caption
under the  picture
at left: Paint cans and plastic bags and all kinds of garbage
but never a human skull have I had in the nets said Bertil Anderson. I hope
that the police technicians will be able to establish the identity of the
mysterious find.
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It is difficult but not impossible to identify the skull.
The question is are
the French willing to do the necessary research?
Of course it is possible to identify the
skull but the chances are small. This is what doctor Adam Berkowicz said after
examining the skull which was caught in a fisherman's net outside Varberg.
Yesterday HN told
the story of the fishermen who found a skull while fishing in Lilla
Middelgrund.
One theory is that the skull comes from one of the eight men who
died on the ship Capitaine Louis Malbert, which sank in December 1963 nine sea
miles outside Varberg.
Doctor Adam Berkowicz in Göteborg (Gothenburg) is head
of the department that will examine the skull and he realizes it is possibly
from one of the French seamen who drowned.
According to Adam Berkowicz a
skull can be at the bottom of the sea for ever. For instance bones from the
crew of the ship Wasa have been found. In this case the teeth are missing which
limits the amount of information that can be learned. But even after one has the name of the dead, it is
possible to compare DNA with a family member. It is also possible to reconstruct
the face to compare it with old photographs says Adam Berkowicz. However the
accident was long ago and it is now known if the French authorities are
interested in doing such research. But that is up to the police. The medical
research done on Friday will tell the sex & age of the skull/person and how long
it has been at the bottom of the sea within certain limitations.
From HN's
articles from the accident in 1963 we know that six of the eight drowned
seamen's bodies were recovered the day after in Varberg. There they were most
likely identified and sent to France.
This means that the owner of the skull
can belong to only two people, assuming that the skull comes from Capitaine Louis
Malbert.
According to Adam Berkowicz the body most likely did not stay at
the ship. When a dead body decompose it creates a gas that gives the body
buoyancy. That is why many drowned bodies will float up and be carried to land.
But the buoyancy is not very strong. A rope, or
something else, can hold the body at the bottom. The climate can be such that
the decomposition is not very fast. With time only the skeleton is left. Early
results of the investigation will be available next week.
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