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All Hands 2020-1 (UK Spring) P a g e 15

No doubt many of you will also recall when you first heard the news. This brief account of the ship’s tragic loss
is taken from the website of The Ship Wreck Log. There is more about the sad loss of the Derbyshire here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Derbyshire. You can also watch this Youtube video about the incident –
Derbyshire video 1
In 1983, the Derbyshire Family Association was formed and in 1994, the ship was found, resulting in the reopening
of the formal investigation into the loss of the vessel and the eventual exoneration of any responsibility on the part
of the crew for the loss of the ship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vahDinNPXsg

On September 10, 1980 the 294 metre long, 169,044 dwt bulk carrier Derbyshire foundered with all hands during
Typhoon Orchid some 230 miles off Okinawa, Japan. The Derbyshire had departed July 11 from Sept-Îles, Canada
with 157,446 tonnes of iron ore bound for Kawasaki, Japan. When the Derbyshire failed to arrive in Kawasaki on
September 15 a search began for the bulk carrier. By September 20 the search and rescue operation was called
th
off.
Patrol boats and aircraft found only an
oil slick and no signs of the 42 crew and
two wives on board the vessel. There
was no distress signal and no
indication that the four year old vessel
would come to a sudden and tragic
ending.
What was the cause of the sinking?:
Having been launched in 1976, the
double hulled Derbyshire measured
some 965 feet long and 145 feet wide.
Manned by an experienced crew, the
vessel was classed as A1 by Lloyds Derbyshire launched on the Tees in 1980 as the Liverpool Bridge
Register and quite capable to withstand
the strongest storms.

Even when faced by a typhoon with 85 knot winds and 20 meter waves, her owners were confident the Derbyshire
would arrive in Kawasaki.
This confidence would be changed to doubt
and lead to several theories to why the bulk
carrier sank.
Theory: Overwhelmed by Typhoon
Orchid: A 1989 government investigation
concluded the Derbyshire had been overcome
by the worst part of Typhoon Orchid. The
theory suggested the bulk carrier had
encountered such severity or had been struck
by a rogue wave, lost her hatch covers,
flooded and rapidly sank.

Theory: Design Fault: Some 18 months after
the Derbyshire sank, the sister ship Tyne
Bridge was proceeding in the North Sea in
ballast when the crew found a crack in the
deck plate just forward of the superstructure
known as frame 65. Photo: www.irishexaminer.com

When taken into drydock, the vessel had sustained multiple cracks in the hull, a 19-foot crack on the starboard
side and a 11-foot crack on the port side. Evidence continues to point to a structural design flaw due to a
misalignment at bulkhead 65. On November 20. 1986, another sister ship, Kowloon Bridge broke-in-three with
one section breaking off at frame 65 after striking a submerged reef off West Cork, Ireland (see right).