Sinking of the MV Derbyshire 

Creepy. I mean, gone in two minutes? With this animation, you're pretty much watching the sinking in real time.

I was an Engineer cadet on her 2 years prior and sailed the same route with the same cargo. Some of my College mates and shipmates perished with her. RIP all. Subsequent investigation has exonerated the crew as there is strong evidence of the fore hatch being lashed correctly and that the spare screw (mounted at the fore end starboard side) came loose during the descent and tore it off on its way past on its path to leaving the ship on the port side. Iron ore is very dense and I remember looking down during loading and being amazed at the amount of space there was left in the hold after loading. The hatches succumbed to the heavy seas leaving gaping holes and thousands of m3 of space to fill with water. The ship went down before a radio signal could be made, which demonstrates the stupidity of of any “survival” comments. If the Bridge watch-keeper (who would recognise what was happening and be the nearest person able to jump overboard) couldn’t survive, nobody could.

I cant imagine how terrifying that must be, a ship silently fills with water. Next thing you know the whole thing starts to slip under. I cant imagine how those sailors were feeling.

Jesus, so from the failure of the foremost hold-cover to the entire ship sinking beneath the waves was nearly shown in REAL TIME in this animation. There's no surviving that.

To be inside and to hear that ship practically tear itself apart.. Truly cannot imagine what those men went through during those 2 minutes. R.I.P

It's actually thought she sunk in seconds, not minutes. When she sunk, she was carrying iron ore. Because the density of it, some of her tanks were completely empty or had very little ore in them (because if all were full, she couldn't float at all because too much weight.). That's why so much water was able to get in. Either way, the crew was probably still asleep when she started to sink, and even with the 2 minute estimate no one could have ever survived. Scary stuff.

I sailed on one of the sister ships to the Derbyshire. The MV Sir Alexander Glen. We passed over the last known location of the Derbyshire pretty much a year later. Carrying iron ore, and in very rough conditions, though not quite as severe as the Derbyshire, there wasn't too many atheists on board. We were all aware of cracks at beam 65 - just forward of the accommodation structure. Was very glad to get off her in Japan. I can only imagine what was going through the minds of the poor souls on the Derbyshire. RIP

It’s like a domino effect. One hold collapses, then the next, then the other 7 one by one until the stern separates from the ship because of implosions in each of the 9 holds. May the ones who died in this tragedy Rest In Piece.

My dad was one step away from going on it before it sank! Instead he swaped with someone who didnt want to go on a oil tanker. Its was twice the lenth and 3 times the width of the titanic!! No body on that ship survived! R.I.P

After serving on capsize bulk carriers myself...this is Horrific- poor people.

The upright prow was the only intact section of the ship they ever found. The rest of the ship was destroyed by implosions and lies strewn across the ocean floor in over 2000 pieces.

I sailed on a sister ship to Derbyshire - the Tyne Bridge - a ship that I saw launched in 1970 at Haverton hill in Middlesbrough. This was my third trip to sea and I was 20 years old. I spent the rest of my working life working on merchant ships, mostly large oil tankers. In those 40 years I never saw a ship so badly constructed, poorly maintained and cack handedly operated as that Tyne Bridge. I have the wisdom and experience to realize now that that I was lucky to survive that trip.

So sad, scary, poor people... Shows the power of the ocean, swallowing an enormous ship in a matter of seconds...

Damn, only 2 minutes. No wonder there weren't any survivors.

May the crew rest in peace. If you'd have been aboard, you would have heard (& possibly felt) the forward cargo spaces imploding. A terrifying final couple of minutes.

This is similar to what happened to Titanic’s stern as it descended. It was still filled with air, and it was descending fractured end first, which caused it to violently implode and tear itself apart. That’s why it looks like a bomb went off at the sterns wreck site.

Wow. And this is a real-time animation.

Even if anyone managed to get off, there's no way to survive those seas in a life boat.

The audio quality is excellent!

But this ship can't sink?! She's made of iron, sir, I assure you she can.. and she will..

Rest in peace crew.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eoHD3VfhYxo.html This is a video of the MV Stellar Banner been scuttled. She is about 46m longer than Derbyshire. Once those holds fill with water these carriers sink like a stone. This video gives you an idea of how quickly Derbyshire would've gone down.

The sinking transpired in around two minutes? TWO minutes! I'm utterly gobsmacked that a ship that size can sink that fast!

I was part of the RN search team on RFA Stromness worse weather I ever saw at sea I recall you could see daylight beneath the frigates as they bounced from wave to wave ( we happened to be in the area at the time !) poor sods !

Two minutes....might as well start singing nearer my god to thee, man...two minutes....I can't even fathom that. A huge ship, massive ship already headed to the bottom in two short minutes. The only thing I can hope for is that it was quick for them. And it was probably better t go down with the ship because being in a life boat on those seas would be terribly worse way to go.

For those in peril..... It's just amazing this doesn't happen more often. RIP.

Thanks for video!

This is why it's now an instant sounding the Abandon Ship alarm if the water ingress alarms go off in the holds of Bulkers. Was asked the same question on my OOW & Chiefs orals exams.

If the crew on the bridge saw anything that night, it would be seeing the front of the ship not come up from beneath those waves, and considering how fast it was, they must've shit themselves

As a Naval Architect and ex seaman I would have welded every aperture shut before the bloody storm hit !!

My right ear really enjoys the audio quality XD

If I see water waves consistently covering any part of the ship, I think that's the cue for me to make camp in the lifeboat.

Shit, rather be on the Titanic

Everytime these cargo ships and I mean massive cargo ships try to dodge a massive rotating monster in one of our oceans on this planet it always ends in fatal destruction. They had no time to survive that event.

Back and back there's no stopping it

I Sailed on her sister ship the Sir John Hunter when she made her maiden voyage form Bremerhaven to Norfolk Virginia and stayed onboard for 2 years….. what a loss for the families.

This is why they have freefall lifeboats on these kinds of ships. Conventional lifeboats would not be able to be launched quickly enough to abandon ship before it sank. Freefall lifeboats can be launched in seconds right up until the ship goes down.

I honestly think the implode and explode would've happened a bit deeper tbh. If you look at the titanic stern survivors said they heard a bag noise 20 or so seconds after it went under. Same thing I think happened here. R.I.P to the 44 people aboard her.

God bless them all. The sea is unforgiving with it's force. RIP.

Very educational.

Tragic, I remember this.

No man can build a ship that a storm can't sink.

Her sister ship KOWLOON BRIDGE,had the same design fault in the weld below the accomodation. The derbyshire and kowloon bridge suffered the same breakage.What you see on this video is a cover up between Lord Bibby and Lioyds of London.

Cant imagine how terrifying it mustve been to look death in the face like that sheeesh.

Two minutes is plenty of time to make a distress call, but none was made. It wouldn't have made a difference because the ship and its crew were doomed as soon as that first hatchway gave in. Still, why no call? Overwhelmed by terror? Resigned acceptance? A panicked scramble for the lifeboats and/or life preservers? Or did the ship sink even faster than those two minutes?

Gone in 2 minutes? jesus you will literally not survive that. Rest in Peace to the victims of the Derbyshire, Theyre in a better place now.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been a movie or a book about this. It would be interesting.

Wow, what a sad sinking. Well, what am I saying? Every sinking of any ship is tragic.

And here I was thinking modern giant ships are at least safe from weather

I have read most of the official report released after the 1996 surveys: The main engine was not identified… the superstructure housing the wheel house and crew lodgings is upside down and severely crushed. All of the hatch covers are buckled, broken or folded over. The isolated bow, though largely intact, has a large crack along a joist attaching it to the no.1 hold, which could have been caused by a violent shift of wet iron ore slamming into the ballast tank.

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald when down in similar conditions she also lost forward vents and was lost with all hands to sad.

Two minutes, a massive ship, taken away in just 2 minutes, desintegrating it in the process.

The weather when she went down was horrendous. We were in the same storm our ship was battered loosing containers. The mast was bent and the funnel wrecked. The ship was listing heavily due to frozen ice onboard. We were ordered to don life jackets. Luckily the ship stayed afloat and we limped into port. I was frightened and 🙏for the lost souls on that fateful day. Maybe Davy Jones wasn’t ready for me🙈 I’m still at sea and ❤ my kid as chief 👨‍🍳

First time I watched this I thought it said it took 2 seconds, I am glad I re watched it.

The sinking of Derbyshire is way faster than this video we just watched

why do i remember watching this long time ago?

i like your video.

When people say "Worse things happen at sea" This is the sort of thing they're talking about.

I got offered the Derbyshire when i was a kid,am i so glad i knocked it back and ended up sailing on another ship.

Christ the pressure that must be needed to burst one of those hatches must be incredible they are solid metal about 2ft thick

At 2:19, the two cranes looked like they both jumped off the ship

God have mercy on their souls may they be able to pass through heaven and not to hell

the liverpool bridge was it real name built at haverton ship yard port clarence launched 05/12/ 1975

What happened here is obvious. Nothing could’ve stopped this, except for delays, and the ship turning around, which would probably get the captain reprimanded ( anyone who fires a captain who runs from those kinds of waves is insane in my book ). Aside from that, nothing could be done. Evening if they noticed the large waves before the hatch cover, nothing could’ve been done. Those waves would’ve sunk the lifeboats. And by the time they actually noticed it, when they saw, or most likely heard the first one collapse, it would’ve been too late to do anything. Launching a boat = Impossible. At that point, I’d just put myself in a lifeboat, and sit in it with my crewmates as it went down. Derbyshire is such a good name too.

Why weren’t they informed by some type of sensor or alarm that the front ballast tank had filled they could have then turned on their pumps and pumped it out saving them

So basically, 1:20 through 3:00 is how fast the ship sank in real time, the forward tanks took 12 hours to fill according to the simulation, just think about that. It sank so quickly!

What documentary was this from? I love the aesthetic of old videos like this and I’d like to watch the whole thing.

Its what happens when the double hull is filled with air then surrounded with tons of pressure from the water itself it implodes on its self in a violent chain reaction

This looks like some superb design failure. I mean think about it: All that had to happen to set the disaster in motion was the loss of the hatch cover. After that, disaster could take it course.

Wow!

Ballast tanks without a pump? Great idea.

door: *opens* water: not my fault

strange !! as an ex merchant seaman i doubt this theory as the ship was struck so suddenly there was no time for a distress signal so i find this account of events rather dubious , her sister ships nearly ALL snapped in two ex kowloon bridge 1986 off of ireland

This video is wrong. Just watched the documentary and did some research. It was not the forward hatch cover. The rough seas ripped off the forward air vent covers and the sea water entered through there over a period of almost a day. There was no way the captain or crew could have seen this from the bridge especially in that kind of weather. Even if they had seen the vent covers missing in seas that rough there would be no way to try to fix the problem without being washed overboard. The captain and crew were in no way at fault here, just a very unfortunate freak accident. May they rest in peace.

The forward tanks imploded at a shallow depth. Maybe the ship could have stayed afloat longer if forward structures hadn't been damaged by implosion effects.

When the cargo holds submerged lids cave in thus allowing water to fill each chamber, why would the ship implode continually? Once the holds are full, isn’t the pressures equal?

That was violent

Truly horrible, they didn't stand a chance. The physics of this 'explanation', however, is way short of sound and satisfactory.

It's ALWAYS the cargo hold!

Poseidon: "You can't park there, mate"

This is a small ship in a big sea

Sounds like Michael Jayston doing the narration. What a wonderful voice for a horrible topic.

So if they are correct regarding the time from hatch 1 collapsing then this video is almost like real time of the sinking 😨

What the video isn’t showing you was the DerbyShire easily fitted on the downside of the wave in that storm. The weight of water that eventually rolled across her was I have to tell you as tall as a building.

Wow...

This was uploaded on my birthday!

Wasn't the cause found in one of her sister ships that was in dry dock in Holland .. which the cause was the rivets would crack in cold temperature thus causing the midships to break in half

this was posted on my bday

But this ship can’t sink?! she’s made of metal sir I assure you she can and she will

A pretty brutal way a carrier could sink.

ama right a song about this

Rogue waves do not forgive. This along with this vessel's design flaws sent everybody straight to the bottom of the ocean...and within 2 minutes there was no time to organize any evacuation whatsoever.

Making this in sinking simulator!

Why were they sailing in this weather to begin with?

I wish they could make a similar ship design to this because they looked really nice.

The dislikes were from my left ear

Two quick minutes to disaster. No time for a mayday, no time to launch the lifeboats. Two quick minutes, and all hands lost.

R.I.P

Good lord, you'd think they made this ship out of paper considering how fast it went down.

2 minutes....my god must havebeen a horrific scene