'The story of how I tracked down the Riverdance captain a decade on'

What really happened on board the Riverdance that night?
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That was the question I really wanted to answer when I revisited the story of the famous ferry disaster, which put Cleveleys on the map in early 2008, ahead of its tenth anniversary two years ago.

I had been called into the office of the then-deputy editor Andy Sykes some weeks before the milestone and told I’d spend some time ‘off-diary’, journalese for ignoring everyday news to concentrate on something pre-planned, to write a series of articles.

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But they could not merely be reflective, he said. They should unearth fresh information, hear from some of those unavailable at the time, and, somehow, a decade on, be worthy of the front page.

The Riverdance became a tourist attraction after getting stranded on the beach off Cleveleys in 2008The Riverdance became a tourist attraction after getting stranded on the beach off Cleveleys in 2008
The Riverdance became a tourist attraction after getting stranded on the beach off Cleveleys in 2008

Once upon a time, in the romantic pre-internet age of news, reporters would disappear – or send librarians to disappear – inside the ‘morgue’, another journalese term for the archives, to dig out old clippings.

That’s now done through an internal search engine but the point still stands: All stories should start in the cuts.

So that’s what I did. I read through the copious amount of The Gazette’s original coverage, brushing up on my history and spotting any gaps that could be exploited.

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One glaring hole was the lack of a proper interview with the Riverdance’s captain Jim Smith.

Jim Hancock was beaten by a gang of men who burst into his home demanding cash. He dubbed it the 'curse of the Riverdance'Jim Hancock was beaten by a gang of men who burst into his home demanding cash. He dubbed it the 'curse of the Riverdance'
Jim Hancock was beaten by a gang of men who burst into his home demanding cash. He dubbed it the 'curse of the Riverdance'

So I set off to find him.

Now, it would be easy to attribute my first breakthrough to luck. It just so happens that a helpful Coastguard source I called knew somebody who knew somebody who knew Capt Smith.

But if I hadn’t called that person, I wouldn’t have known that.

And if I hadn’t previously worked to build a relationship of trust and respect with them, they might not have been inclined to help me.

Capt Jim Smith only spoke about the frantic last few moments on the Riverdance two years agoCapt Jim Smith only spoke about the frantic last few moments on the Riverdance two years ago
Capt Jim Smith only spoke about the frantic last few moments on the Riverdance two years ago
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Boiled down, journalism is simply finding things out and relaying them to a wider audience. Anything else is really just padding to fog the industry in some sort of mystique or glamour.

Good reporters stick to the basics, and arguably make their own luck through hard work, doggedness, and by getting to know the right people in the right way.

They make phone calls or visits instead of sending emails or text messages.

They ask questions they know probably won’t be answered – and then they ask them again.

And they show a genuine interest in people’s lives.

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Whether it was through luck or not, or through the combination of graft and long-term contact building or not, these people all helped me.

I’m still grateful to them for that.

Before long, I was sitting at home speaking to Capt Smith over the phone about the frantic final minutes on board the Riverdance for the first time.

He revealed how two massive waves in quick succession sent cargo flying and the ferry leaning heavily to one side; how the 6,000-tonne ship was “very close” to capsizing with everyone on board; how he believed divine intervention saved the lives of 23 people; and how he told jokes and sang ditties to lighten the mood as helicopter winch-men hauled the terrified passengers and crew to safety.

Capt Smith’s exclusive interview (which can be read here) went on the front page to launch a week of articles, which covered the rescue, its immediate aftermath, the salvage operation and tourism boost, and the long-term impact on the shipping industry.

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They were made up of official reports, which provided the key detail, eyewitness accounts, which provided the colour and the drama, and even details of a ‘curse’.

Jim Hancock, the boss of the firm brought in to scrap the Riverdance, which was left collapsing under its own weight on the beach, had agreed to meet me after I tracked him down using (gasp) the phone-book.

A couple of days later, I sat in his car, his dog panting in the back, as we looked out at where the behemoth had once been.

Much of what he said about the salvage operation, albeit fascinating, had already been reported, and it was only towards the end of our conversation that he slipped in a nugget of gold.

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Days after finishing the job, and before he’d even been paid, Jim had been tortured inside his own home by a gang looking for the cash.

Men wearing balaclavas and wielding hammers and an axe battered him after bursting into his house while he was watching Corrie with his now ex-girlfriend.

It sounded unbelievable but his story (which can also be read here) was stood up by police, who had been called not by him but by a concerned neighbour who heard the fracas.

“The curse of the Riverdance, that bit, yeah, it really was,” Jim said nonchalantly. Not half. I could practically see the front page headline before I’d even climbed out his 4x4.

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Our Riverdance series, which also included an article expressing fresh concerns lessons had not been learned from the disaster, saw The Gazette nominated in the Most Memorable category at the o2 Media Awards North West 2018, although it was beaten by Nikki Lilly’s interview with the then-Prime Minister Theresa May for CBBC.

We did win the Daily Newspaper of the Year gong, though, while sports reporter Matt Scrafton was named Football Journalist of the Year at the North West Football Awards at around the same time.

As a reporter who believes what he’s doing is a calling and not just a job, I’m very grateful to work for a local newspaper that still allows me the time to dig deeper into issues that matter to our community.

Like any other local paper, resources are tight and the demands are tough. Quick wins are increasingly chased with cheap headlines and scant detail.

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I hope the big cheeses here will continue to invest in in-depth journalism, even when it’s expensive, and even if internet users would rather read about the new burger at McDonald’s, because it’s the right thing to do.

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