Derbyshire Ruling: Crew Not To Blame

A top judge ruled on Wednesday that the crew of the largest British ship ever to be lost at sea was not to blame for the vessel's sinking. All 44 people on board died when the 169,000 ton cargo ship MV Derbyshire went down in Typhoon Orchid off the coast of Japan in 1980. Relatives of the crew had earlier crowded into London's High Court to hear Justice Colman announce the result of the second inquiry into why the Teesside-built ship sank. They had been disappointed by an inconclusive first inquiry in 1987 and then outraged by a 1998 assessors' report that the crew had failed to secure the lid to the hatch on the foredeck, causing the sinking. "(Today's) report rejects the assessors' conclusion that the crew had left the hatch lid inadequately secured prior to the Derbyshire entering the typhoon," Colman said. He added that the disaster could have been avoided if the ship's master had altered course. But he said that no criticism could be attached to the master's decision to hold course as he could not reasonably have anticipated the wind, sea and isometric conditions. While the crew was cleared of blame, relatives of the dead are unlikely to gain compensation following Wednesday's report, which made clear that nobody else could be held responsible. "The report makes no finding of negligence. While it clears the crew members of any blame for what happened it does not go on to indicate any fault on the part of anyone else," an informed legal source told Reuters. "In terms of looking for compensation there needs to be liability and the report appears to have shut out any question of blame worthiness." Judge Calls For Tighter Regs Colman called for drastic improvements in the international requirements for hatch strength on similar vessels, which he said could have saved the ship and its crew. He described current regulations as "seriously deficient". Current requirements, laid down in an international convention in 1966, affect 476 bulk carriers in the world today, 68 of which are of a similar length to the Derbyshire. When he opened the second inquiry in April, Attorney General Lord Williams pointed out that there would never be absolute certainty about what happened when the Derbyshire sank. However, Wednesday's 214-page report said that innovations in undersea photography and film had allowed the inquiry to be relatively conclusive. The inquiry used more than 135,000 still photographs and 200 hours of video footage of the wreckage, obtained during a 2.7 million pound ($3.84 million) investigation. Colman said that the inquiry concluded with reasonable confidence that the loss of the Derbyshire began when some or all of the ventilators and air pipes on the foredeck were destroyed by many hours of water loading during the typhoon. - (Reuters)