AN official search for the Gaul in the years after her disappearance was shelved on cost grounds - even though the location of the wreck was known.

A public inquiry into the events surrounding the loss of the trawler in 1974 was told officials at the Department of Transport believed the likely cost of carrying out an underwater search outweighed any benefits for marine safety that might have followed from surveying the wreck.

Sheila Doone, of Sackville Street, Brierfield, is part of a group of relatives who have campaigned to be told the truth about the Gaul's sinking off the northern tip of Norway.

Her husband, John, was a radio operator on the trawler which sank amid rumours it was involved in espionage.

Nigel Cooper QC, representing the DoT, also denied claims of a cover-up over the wreck's position at the bottom of the Barents Sea. He said: "It was the department's view there was no good reason on the grounds of improving marine safety to justify the search.

"The potential cost was also considered along with the real and credible possibility that the department might not find the wreck.

"It was a question of striking a balance between these factors and the fact that some relatives could not accept the loss of kin and faced the risk of further distress and rumour if a search was unsuccessful."

Mr Cooper said extensive talks had been held with two companies about the possibility of mounting an underwater survey in the late 1970s.

But he said neither firm was prepared to shoulder any of the costs.

He added: "Documents show the department genuinely could not justify the costs when balanced against the issue of improving marine safety and the risk of failure.

"The department's decision was a decision that it was reasonably entitled to take."

Mr Cooper claimed there was also widespread evidence to refute allegations of a cover-up over the Gaul's final resting place.

The inquiry also heard from a crewman who sailed with the Gaul on its final voyage has said he wants to "close for good" suggestions the vessel was a spy ship. Retired seaman George Petty - who was put ashore with an illness five days into the ill-fated trip - was the first witness to give evidence at the reopened investigation into the loss of the vessel and her crew.

Former first mate Mr Petty, 75, said: "There was no mystery man aboard that vessel. That vessel was never, ever engaged in spying, and that's the gospel truth."

He was responding to questioning by Nigel Meeson QC, counsel to the inquiry, about the vessel's disappearance on February 8, 1974.