The wreck of Nicola Faith, the fishing vessel that vanished off the coast of Wales in January 2021 with three crew aboard, has been handed to Cranfield University for use in its investigator training program. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch said the steel-hulled boat, built in 1987, will be renamed Pisces II and take the place of Pisces, a vessel that has served at the university for many years.

The donation gives trainees something rare: a real wreck tied to a fatal case that investigators spent years piecing together. Nicola Faith disappeared on a fishing trip in January 2021, and all three crew members died. The bodies of Ross Ballantine, Alan Minard and Carl McGrath were later found at different locations, with the first recovered 44 days after the incident.

The vessel itself was eventually found on April 3, 319 meters east of its last transmitted position, resting in 15 meters of water. Ten days later, its identity was confirmed. By late May, the wreck had been lifted from the seabed and moved to a local boatyard before being passed on for training use years later.

The wreck was at the center of a deep inquiry because the Marine Accident Investigation Branch concluded Nicola Faith capsized after being loaded with catch and pots to the point of instability. The vessel had undergone extensive modifications during its lifetime and, investigators said, had a reduced margin of positive stability. The branch also found it had been habitually operated in an unsafe manner.

That background is what gives the donation its value for Cranfield University. The wreck and the evidence gathered in the case will help create a realistic scenario of a fishing vessel capsizing, giving future investigators a physical case study rather than a diagram or a slide deck. In a field where the difference between a close call and a fatality can turn on loading, stability and routine practice, the remains of Nicola Faith now become a training tool as much as a memorial.

The next step is straightforward: Pisces II will enter service at Cranfield, carrying the lessons of a case that ended in three deaths and a long search for answers. What began as a tragedy in UK waters is now being used to teach the people who may one day have to explain the next one.