There are no words to describe the impact on relatives and friends of having someone lost at sea, but Elleesa Rushby’s own family experience is informing research she is undertaking on its toll.

It is known as ambiguous loss, and Rushby grew up with the impact of the death of her grandfather, William Rushby, whose body was never found after the Isolda lightship which he was crewing on was sunk off the south-east coast in December 1940.

As Afloat reported previously Coxswain Patrick Dunne (47), James Hayden (38), Patrick Shortt (44), William Holland (58) and Patrick Farrell (24) also died after a German aircraft released its bombs on the ship, having circled the Isolda three times.

The ship was clearly marked “Lighthouse Service” in large white lettering on its hull. Royal Irish Academy historian Dr Michael Kennedy says buoys on the deck of the Isolda may have been mistaken for mines.

The Isolda lightship

Ireland had a three-mile nautical limit, but essentially it “meant little to British and German military forces who were well aware the island was undefended”, he says.

The Commissioners of Irish Lights ship Granuaile remembered the six men with a wreath-laying ceremony at sea last December, and a video was also released to honour the Isolda crew for their “loyal and dedicated service”.

Rushby explained how she became involved in an interview first broadcast on RTE Radio’s Seascapes, now broadcast on Wavelengths this week.

Relatives who may wish to contact Ms Rushby can do so by contacting the Commissioner of Irish Lights at Harbour Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin on 01 2715400 or by email at [email protected]