I sailed on the MV Tyne Bridge - a younger sister ship to Derbyshire. - I had watched Tyne Bridge when she was launched and three years later in 1975, I was assigned as a junior engineer. Up to that time, the ship had suffered engine room fires, cracking in the engine room bulkheads, a hold tank cleaning explosion that stripped off two hatchcovers , a boiler burn out, and also had a flooded forecastle from a vent pipe broken in a storm. This flooding took out the emergency fire pump diesel engine that the Chief convinced the Surveyor he would fix asap so the vessel was given a dispensation to sail. In my time on board we had numerous small fires, a pump room fire that used the entire stock of CO2 fire fighting media - the ship discharged oil cargo with a faulty inert gas system and on that cargo operation - a fire caused by welding in the engine room - and the emergency fire pump diesel was never repaired while I was on board. I went on to spend 40 more years in oil tankers from 35,000 tons to 440,000 tons and now I am retired, I realise how lucky I was. In my career , I have never seen a ship so badly built, badly maintained and badly operated. She was a disaster waiting to happen.
I remember that it was reported that during the construction of these ships the ship building firm was falling to pieces and the construction crews were thought the quality of the ships was terrible. The gentleman who wrote the comment above is correct, he is very very lucky. Though allowing horribly faulty ships to continue to sail still goes on all the time. The Faroe which sank with all hands several years ago was in terrible shape.
There was wife's of the crew onboard who died also. But it turns out the captain got 3 different weather reports which all 3 placed the centre of the storm at 3 different positions. He tried to guess the best and safest route through but they hit the eye of the storm. Awful to think how scared they were before she imploded at her bow. May the crew and all on board REST in PEACE
If anything good has come out of such a horrendous sea tragedy it's that very significant ship safety standards have been implemented following inspection recommendations in ship design and building.May God rest their souls.
This is patently not true thought is it, look at bulk carrier loss numbers and reasons why. Reasons unexplained has shot up by double over past ten years. Lots more lives being lost, for decades afterwards, faulty shoddy hatches were still being fitted. No requirement for forecastle, freeboard decrease requirements. One of the more minor problems with our Class Rules designed ships is that they have so many things wrong with them, that it is often impossible to figure out which is most responsible in a given casualty. The Derbyshire families had good reason to suspect cracking at Frame 65. The hatch covers are far too weak. The hull longitudinal strength is at best marginal. The lack of a raised forecastle is indefensible Credit CTX. Look at the Pasithea.
I once new a guy called Shaun Kent who was a scrap merchant from England who bought the salvage rights to the Derbyshire’s sister ship the Kowloon Bridge that sank off the southwest coast of Ireland. He was hired by the families of the Derbyshires sailors and was instrumental in finding the wreckage of the ship.
I was on the sister ship MV Sir Alexander Glen and these ships were dangerous The class were built by Swan Hunter shipbuilders at the time when North Sea oil exploration and drilling were starting in a big way and oil rig construction yards were springing up all over Scotland Most of Swan Hunters welders left the yard to work on building the rigs where the money was 5-6 times better than what they were getting I've since talked to shipyard workers who said that some of the welding on the ships was being done by carpenters and electricians and others who were not qualified and this was borne out by some of the appalling workmanship
WOW, I have been researching this for a while now and what you said blew my mind, I heard talk of them using welding rods to try and correct the misalignment as they had outdated tools. Can you tell me more about your experience serving on Glen?
@@VileCAESARB We were in the exact location in the South China Sea two years previous carrying the same cargo, iron ore, from Tubarao, Brazil and also in a typhoon I was down in the pump room one morning which was just aft of the aft hold and was was actually looking at a crack in the bulkhead growing as I was looking at it I informed the captain and chief engineer and was told not to mention anything about it which stank of some kind of cover up or back handers being involved The damage was repaired with 1,400 tonnes of steel in Japan and we went on our merry way with no further incidents
Knights Templar, I used to be on tankers at the time and many a seaman who had sailed on bulkers used to say never again I would rather be on tankers. And as you may know how many seamen never liked tankers!!!🇬🇧🇬🇧
My ex brother in law was a welder at Smith's Dock where the MV Tyne Bridge was built. He used to regale me with stories of how he would lay rods in the plate joins and weld over the top, how he would stuff rods into handrail piping to create annoying rattles at sea, how he would read the Sunday papers on double time Sunday shifts and take a sleeping bag on night shifts. He went on to be an Inspector at Windscale - a horrifying prospect.
Japanese helicopters were NOT deployed the next day. The owners waited several days before reporting the ship as missing. She was also not a new ship. Pretty lousy research on this one Discovery.
I worked a 9 month trip on the m.v.Lackenby with Ropner management ltd out of teeside carrying same cargo ...iron ore ...coal ...same route ....r.i.p....Derbyshire crew ⚓
@@VileCAESARB i had a great trip . ...Uk to Alabama then Port Alegre, Brazil ... two ports in Japan, Kashima and Wakayama finally Darwin Australia ...then back to Teeside in uk ....but i never could of realised how a Ship the size of these fully laden could be thrown about like a cork in pond ....some really rough weather ..but for most of the time a very enjoyable trip....the creaks and groans of the metal sometimes were alarming
The underwater video footage shows the booby hatch on the foc’sle open with a rope lying across the opening. Therefore, it was evident that the Bosun Store got flooded and thereby getting her more down by the head. Probably, later the waves sheered off the ventilators, flooding the fore peak tank and the Chain Lockers, getting her even more down by the head. Finally the force of the typhoon waves just broke through the Hatch Cover No. 1 and rest is history.
An investigation revealed the possibility that the front vent caps were blown away due to constant wave ramming which caused flooding of the bow part and then the first hatch. With each pitch the ship was getting flooded without the crew knowing it and we're going deeper and deeper by the bow. Finally one such wave took the entire ship into the sea..deep down. Sad and a very rare happening
@@VileCAESARB not these days.. because we have sensors which give out alarms when the collision bulkhead or ballast tanks or cargo holds are flooded...the water can be pumped out immediately...but if still happening then due to inefficient crew unlike Derbyshire.
@@arv653 Very interesting, thanks for that info. Did not know this, I was aware that several bulk carriers carrying bulk ore disappeared from 88 to 98 and that BC's disappearing without explanation has more than doubled in past ten years, appreciate you providing the info. I did wonder; why did the draft gauges not show to the bridge that the bow was slowly flooding?
@@VileCAESARBYou are Welcome... these sensors are a new addition..I guess from 2007 or 2011 regulations additionally some even have digital stabilisers..much safe these days..and yes till the last 10 years bulk carrier disapearances were quite common..many other additional reasons for the same. Draft gauges are not much reliable during rough weathers because during the pitching and rolling it keeps on increasing and decreasing.
Totally agree, very similar to the big Fitz. I think the wave that hit the Anderson hit the stern of the Fitz and she broke in 2 the bow just went down nose first. Them poor men. Rip
It wasnt that new ship. next up, there were many build issues. the main support channels were below the loading area, but not below the bridge area, that forward and aft sections were not in alignment with main loading area where "beam 65" was there. So the aft section after beam 65 had to be modified if the ship were to be safe. reason for sinking was that front section's ventilator system leaked in water for over two days in ballast tanks. As the bow went deeper due to weight, the cargo area hold covers could not hold the crashing waves and quickly in a couple of minutes ship went down.
@@Eliteperson25 thanks for the info, I had heard this, is that because the ship never really levels our during bad weather so you can't get an accurate reading off them? I heard they have automatic sensors now etc that alert if hull breached or water intake. What did they used to do back in the day to check for this?
I find anyone that uses the adjective "super" when it is supremely.... annoying. Likkkkkeeee suppppperrr cool brahhh, can imagine your whiny raised inflection voice now.
I, a fan of Both Tugs and Thomas & Friends, Created an Original character based off of the class of ship the MV Derbyshire was. The MV Augustus Crow is his name, and after hearing of the MV Derbyshire’s Sinking, he would go straight to his builders and say: *“FIX ME, NOW!”*
@@simplesimon182 Hi, Yes that's what I meant VIRTUALLY impossible! but not 100% impossible, your living proof! Sea Gods were smiling on you during your horrible experience... and of course those brave souls who rescued you! Peace.
I was talking to a crew member on Derbyshire Liverpool docks taking a spare valve I was talking to a young lad with a moustache I said she's low in the water he looked and said do you thank so he said it was OK but I've never seen a ship that low down and would not like to go to sea on one I found out they were lost from my boss
@@VileCAESARB yeah sure when i was on the dock side it was.aprox 20 ft up couldn't seen the bow markers but i delivered to ships for years and never saw one that low if it was ment to be i still wouldnt want to go to sea in her
@@VileCAESARB by the way I did go on board and talk to the engineer and two other saw a guy in a white uniform come out and seem to moan at the engineer the water side didn't look that far down they sail soon after
Imagine the FEAR - the insane FEAR when you know what's about to happen. Holy mother of Jesus...There are no words that can compare to that fear of trepidation.
Timeline to disaster, Liverpool Council don’t have 4 days to wait for a typhoon , boats that aren’t in normal sailing conditions go straight to the bottom. Especially if the captain leaves the front crew hatch wide open. That area filled up with deadly sea water dragging the boat down eventually allowing a wave to strike the top of cargo holds 1&2 which filled up with deadly sea water. Now the Liverpool bluebird priority override mv Derbyshire has to negotiate the next wave with the bow submerged. What it came up with was just to sail straight into the Wave sit had no chance of going over the next storm wave. Captains last words..what the glug glug glug. As the sea took the rest of the ship in the five seconds
And he said 44 men, two were women. Seriously Discovery, if you are going to make content like this, be correct. A lot of people were affected by this loss.
Darin Wissbaum, problem with the Fitzgerald wasn’t it’s design it was the amount of weight she was carrying 30 thousand tones of iron ore, she probably broke when a big wave put her nose up making her center snap in half
SWFL Costal Media LLC Plus prior crewmembers on the Fitzgerald reported that Ernest McSorley was terrible when it came to general maintenance of his ship.
Chris Duncan that’s not believed correct anymore. It was later redetermined covers on the forepeak were washed away from wave impacts slowly filling up the forepeak spaces over 2 days. This reduced reserve bouyancy and freeboard. The mass of a wave caused hatch 1 covers to buckle filling the hold space with upward twenty thousand tonnes of water. This process cascaded-aft, with each hold. Over 2 min period the ship sank rapidly by the bow with the holds, wing and ballast tanks imploding from pressure. Eventually near the coffer dam the ship did separate along with the engine room floor separating from beneath the vessel but it was beneath the waves by then and breaking up. It was one of the most violent and quick founderings of a vessel known, apart from explosions at sea.
Its probably him being in awe of what had happened to that ship? He saw the pieces of that ship scattered across the seabed & he probably couldn’t believe what had happened to it. People who are shocked, creeped-out, etc, do smile when talking.