The Braer Thirty Years on- What really happened? A talk by Jonathan Wills.

Thirty years ago Shetland News Agency reporters Jonathan Wills and Karen Warner wrote the ‘instant book’ on the Braer tanker wreck. It took them 18 days. They accepted in good faith some statements by the shipowner that later proved questionable, to say the least. As a result, some of the conclusions of their book, Innocent Passage – the wreck of the tanker Braer, were wrong.

More than seven years later, a cache of Shetland Islands Council papers came to light that showed the Braer was probably technically unseaworthy when she left Norway. If so, her insurance would have been invalid.

So why was crucial evidence kept secret and why were important facts ignored by the official British and Liberian inquiries? Jonathan Wills will lead us along the evidence trail…


Date: Thursday 19th January
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Auditorium, Shetland Museum & Archives
Ticket price: £5.00

Biographical note:

Jonathan Wills worked as a journalist from 1976 to 1998, mostly in Shetland where he set up Radio Shetland for the BBC, edited The Shetland Times and co-founded The Shetland News online. He retired in 2017 after a second career as a wildlife guide, environmental consultant and SIC councillor.

His book Reporter on the Rocks – memoirs of a recovering journalist was published in 2022. It includes an updated and corrected account of the Braer wreck and also describes several other maritime and aviation accidents around Shetland that he covered during his 22 years as a reporter.