INQUIRY INTO YACHT’S LOSS – EFFORT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY OF ‘MYSTERY’ SEAMAN
When the Board of Trade inquiry was resumed at Glasgow yesterday into the loss of the ex-Admiralty yacht Aarla, 438 tons, which sank with all hands off Ailsa Craig in June 1947, a photograph was produced in an effort to establish the identity of the seaman who, it is believed, may have joined the vessel.  It is not known whether there were eight on nine aboard at the time.  The photograph was brought to the inquiry by a Glasgow man, Peter Johnson, of Weir Street, after having read newspaper reports of the inquiry which spoke of a ‘mystery man with a scar’ who had not been accounted for as a member of the Aarla’s crew.  He believed the man was his second cousin, Able-Seaman Hector Johnson of Lochcarnan, South Uist.  The photograph was shown to Joseph Miller, aged 39, of Ardrossan, an installation operator, who recalled putting oil aboard the Aarla before she sailed from Ardrossan on the last voyage.  Miller had given evidence about a well-built seaman, aged about 30, with black hair, whom he saw aboard the yacht, but whose photograph was not among those he had been shown as being members of the crew.  The witness was unable to identify the photograph of Johnson.  Peter Johnson stated the Press represenatives that his cousin had come to Glasgow a few days before the Aarla sailed.  He had not been heard of since and he was sure that Hector had joined her.  Johnston’s photographs will be shown to other witnesses at the inquiry.  The hearing was adjourned until today.
            The Scotsman, 23 February 1949 

INQUIRY INTO YACHT’S LOSS – EFFORT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY OF ‘MYSTERY’ SEAMAN
The death occurred yesterday of the Reverend F Adamson, minister of West Church, Grangemouth.  Mr Adamson, who was forty-five, was a son of the Reverend Dr Adamson of Ardrossan.  Educated at Saint Andrew’s University, he was ordained in 1928 and his first charge was Killin.  He was inducted to Grangemouth in 1932.
            The Scotsman, 25 February 1949