What Happened To The Derbyshire?

I was the Radio Officer on a sister ship to the Derbyshire - Sir Alexander Glen - 11 months after it sank and we had loaded Iron Ore in Canada heading to Kashima in Japan. We were also heading into a Typhoon. But we diverted to avoid going through the eye of the storm. A fault in the ship's structure between the accommodation and Cargo holds with cracks starting to appear. It happened on all the sister ships. I was convinced for years that was the cause of Derbyshire sinking. I took some film during the storm whilst on board.

I have seen a few things on the Derbyshire, but this was the first one that talked about the different quadrants of a storm. Thanks for the interesting info!

The loss of the Derbyshire is so eerie. I always tried to imagine how it must have been for the people inside the ships. The incident happening at night, most were asleep in their quarters, including 2 wifes of crewmen. There's a good chance the whole vessel was underwater before the accommodation area was even flooded, meaning they went down like a submarine... with no pressure hull. In complete darkness, surrounded by hellish noises of creaking, bending and breaking metal, and ear-deafening water rushing in everywhere. Horrible. May they rest in peace...

The fact that this ship was so close to its destination after such a long journey is tragic in itself. Very similar to what happened to the Fitzgerald.

I'm a merchant navy officer. The story of the Derbyshire is taught as a matter of course during training, as well as the poor build quality of OBOs and bulk carriers from the 70s and 80s.

I remember watching a documentary ( Mayday or Seconds to Disaster or something like that) on the Derbyshire back in the mid-2000s. Was chilling how the sinking went from gradual flooding over several hours to sudden death in minutes – by the time the crew realized something was wrong, they were already doomed. Poor bastards never stood a chance.

I worked as a Ships Agent and Operations Superintendent, we had 2 ships crossing the Bay of Biscay in Feb 1989. MV Orestia carrying 32000 Tonnes of Alumina and MV Anna Leonhardt carrying 3500 tonnes of Petcoke. Bound for Holyhead, North Wales. Both ships were within visual sight of each other. They were in a hurricane force gale. The Orestia witnessed the "Sudden Disappearence" of the Anna Leonhardt at the same time as having her (Orestia) Number 1 hatch cover punched in flooding the hold with seawater and contamination of the Alumina in the Number 1 hold. The Anna Leonhardt "punched" into a large swell and sank immediately, the crew, mainly German had no chance whatsoever. The Orestia "limped" to Holyhead, Down at the head (bow). It was the only "total loss" I've ever been involved with, I'd just turned 21 and it was my job to file the report to Lloyds of London.

My uncle was an engineer on a super tanker. One day (like 40 or so years ago) they do a drill to test the life raft. They put sand bags in the raft to simulate passengers, and then lower the raft into the ocean. The raft snaps in two, and sinks. Drill complete, they return to normal duties.

I was on board the SS Pollenger, about 300 miles away from the Derbyshire when she went down. What a storm that was. My first trip to sea!!

I was on Okinawa for typhoon orchid, I have a single photo I took from my doorway, could not see the street in front of the house for the rain.

I was in the same storm on a bulk carrier sailing from Los Angeles to Taiwan. I remember seeing how our ship’s decks flexed, bending and twisting. As a young cadet I think that was the first time that I realised life is finite. We heard about the Derbyshire going missing before we reached Taiwan. One thing that may not be well known is that wife’s of crew members onboard and personnel ready to change out were waiting in Japan. I went back to college in South Shields and met one on the guys who was waiting in Japan. He said it was terrible as it became clear that the Derbyshire hand gone down and they all flew back to the U.K. Very sad. Serving most of my time on large bulk carriers and container ships, despite witnessing the storm, it was hard to understand how no one made it to the boats. Good and very sobering explanation.

friend of mine was one of the crew on the derbyshire, the ship had sailed before he got back onboard.. he heard about it going missing while he was arranging to meet the ship when it docked. after this he never went to sea again.

Climbing aboard at your home dock... "THIS SHIP IS MASSIVE! sailing into a Typhoon... "we are a leaf bobbing into a waterfall!" Poor feckers, RIP Crewmembers and Captain of the Derbyshire!

I saw a documentary on the Derbyshire and it's always stuck with me. The way the bow began to sit lower and lower in the water, unnoticed, over days perhaps, until it reached the point that enough green water came over the bow and broke the first hatch and set off the chain reaction that sent the strip plunging down within minutes... truly haunting. Reminds me of the Edmund Fitzgerald, with the iron ore, storm and possible cargo hold flooding combination.

2-3 minutes from the hatch giving way to the vessel going down is frightening. Even if the crew had prepared to evacuate immediately it's surely unlikely any would have got off.

It's worth noting that the requirements for bulk carrier damaged stability in SOLAS has since been increased, to hopefully make accidents like this less likely. Although I don't honestly think a modern bulk carrier would have fared much better in this situation.

Having sailed as a cadet on a supertanker in the late 70's, where we were taught to load and discharge all tanks evenly else you could break the ship (at the dockside!), I find it incredible that they'd sail with holds with different tonnages in them, let alone with some empty! I sailed on many ships but never on a bulkie.

David Mearns who has also found HMAS Sydney and the Kormoran eventually found the Derbyshire. He had a chapter in his book on shipwreck hunting dedicated to the search and the reasons why it sank. Stating that finding that it had cracked at the crew compartment was one of the hardest things, because of what it meant to the family's who had been waiting for answers for over a decade.

The modern day Mary Celeste. I sailed on the Shropshire as a first trip cadet for Bibby line not long after watching a documentary about the Derbyshire. We also carried iron ore which had me a little concerned to say the least.

When you load a bulker you never leave an hold unloaded. When the ship is hogging in weather it can break the keel. It's not the loss of Derbyshire but is the loss of many bulkers.