Marchioness disaster
Encyclopedia
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the early hours of 20 August 1989. The pleasure boat Marchioness sank after being run down by the dredger Bowbelle, near Cannon Street Railway Bridge
Cannon Street Railway Bridge
Cannon Street Railway Bridge is a bridge in central London, crossing the River Thames. Downstream, the next bridge is London Bridge, and upstream Southwark Bridge. It carries trains over the river to Cannon Street station on the north bank...
. There were 131 people on the Marchioness. Some were members of the crew, some were catering staff and others were guests at a private birthday party. Fifty-one of them drowned.
Victims
The party was organised by photographer agent Jonathan Phang to celebrate the 26th birthday of Antonio de Vasconcellos, who worked in a merchant bankMerchant bank
A merchant bank is a financial institution which provides capital to companies in the form of share ownership instead of loans. A merchant bank also provides advisory on corporate matters to the firms they lend to....
. The pair were good friends and business partners in a photographic agency. Of Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
family background, Vasconcellos had studied Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at Cambridge University.
Phang organised a three part celebration: an eight person dinner in a flat on Meard Street
Meard Street
Meard Street in a street in Soho, London. It runs roughly East-West , between Wardour Street to the west and Dean Street to the east...
(only two of the diners survived); a birthday cake and champagne celebration for a group of 30 at the flat; and the party on the Marchioness. Many of those at the party were also in their twenties; some were former student friends and others worked in the fashion industry. The dead included Francesca Dallaglio, older sister of future England national
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
captain Lawrence Dallaglio
Lawrence Dallaglio
Lorenzo Bruno Nero "Lawrence" Dallaglio, OBE is a retired English rugby union player and former captain of the English national team. He played as a flanker or number eight for London Wasps and never played for another club, having arrived at Sudbury as a teenager...
, and the skipper of the Marchioness, Stephen Faldo, father of reality TV star Jeff Brazier
Jeff Brazier
Jeffrey Carl Brazier is a British television presenter and reality TV star. Before becoming a television personality, he was a footballer on the books of Leyton Orient for three years, although he never played for the first team and quit the game due to injury.-Career:In 2001, Brazier took part in...
.
Collision
In the initial instant of collision the anchorAnchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...
of the Bowbelle cut through the side of the Marchioness. The Marchioness then rolled over and quickly filled with water, while being pushed under by the Bowbelle. As the Marchioness capsize
Capsize
Capsizing is an act of tipping over a boat or ship to disable it. The act of reversing a capsized vessel is called righting.If a capsized vessel has sufficient flotation to prevent sinking, it may recover on its own if the stability is such that it is not stable inverted...
d, her entire superstructure
Superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
became detached. The formal investigation put the time elapsed, from the instant of collision at 1.46 a.m. to complete immersion, at close to 30 seconds. Witnesses quoted in that investigation described the Bowbelle as "hitting it [the Marchioness] in about its centre then (mounting) it, pushing it under the water like a toy boat."
Of the deceased, 24 were recovered from the sunken hull. The majority of the survivors had been on the upper decks at the time of the collision.
Aftermath
The disaster was found by the Marine Accident Investigation BranchMarine Accident Investigation Branch
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch established in 1989 following the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster is a branch of the United Kingdom Department for Transport which can investigate any accident occurring in UK waters, regardless of the nationality of the vessel involved, and accidents...
to have been caused by the poor visibility from each ship's wheelhouse
Wheelhouse
Wheelhouse or Wheel-house may refer to a number of topicsIn nautical context*The location of the steering wheel of a boat or ship**Bridge **Pilothouse...
, the fact that both vessels were using the centre of the river and the lack of clear instructions to the lookout at the bow of the Bowbelle. In 1991, the skipper of the Bowbelle, Douglas Henderson, was tried for failing to keep a proper look-out but, after two juries were deadlocked, he was formally acquitted. A Coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
's inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...
on 7 April 1995 found the victims had been unlawfully killed.
Following pressure from the Marchioness Action Group, whose publicity front had been handled by photographer and party attendee Ian Philpott, on 14 February 2000, John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions was a UK Cabinet position created in 1997, with responsibility for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions ....
ordered a formal investigation into the circumstances of the collision, to be chaired by Lord Justice Clarke. Lord Clarke's report blamed poor lookouts on both vessels for the collision and criticised the owners and managers of both vessels for failing to instruct and monitor their crews in proper fashion.
In 2001 an inquiry by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is a UK executive agency working to prevent the loss of lives at sea and is responsible for implementing British and International maritime law and safety policy.This involves coordinating search and rescue at sea through Her Majesty's Coastguard , ensuring that...
into the competency and behaviour of Captain Henderson concluded that he should be allowed to keep his master's certificate as he met all the service and medical fitness requirements. However, they "strongly deprecated" his conduct in drinking 5 pints of lager in the afternoon prior to the accident and for his admission that he had forged some signatures on certificates and testimonials in order to obtain his master mariner certificate of competency in 1988.
Subsequent to recommendations made in the Clarke report relating to the improvement of river safety, the Government asked the Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is a UK executive agency working to prevent the loss of lives at sea and is responsible for implementing British and International maritime law and safety policy.This involves coordinating search and rescue at sea through Her Majesty's Coastguard , ensuring that...
, the Port of London Authority
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority is a self-funding public trust established in 1908 by the Port of London Act to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and the authority is responsible for the public right of navigation and for conservancy of the...
and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....
(RNLI) to work together to set up a dedicated Search and Rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
service for the tidal River Thames. Consequently, on 2 January 2002, the RNLI set up four lifeboat stations, at Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
, Tower Pier
Tower Pier
Tower Pier may refer to:*Tower Millennium Pier, the passenger boat service pier on the River Thames, London, UK, located next to the Tower of London....
, Chiswick Pier and Teddington
Teddington
Teddington is a suburban area in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London, on the north bank of the River Thames, between Hampton Wick and Twickenham. It stretches inland from the River Thames to Bushy Park...
.
The Bowbelle was herself lost seven years after the disaster. Having been sold to a Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
n dredging company and renamed Bom Rei, she split in half and sank on 25 March 1996 off the coast of Ponta do Sol, Madeira
Ponta do Sol, Madeira
Ponta do Sol is a municipality in the southwestern coast of the island of Madeira, in the archipelago of Madeira. It has an area of 46.19 km², and includes a population of just over as 8125 : it is one of the smallest municipalities on the island of Madeira.-History:The settlement of Ponta do...
. The Tubarao Madeira Diving Organisation discovered the wreck 6 months after it sank. The wreck is still in good condition and offers refuge to a varied range of fish and marine life. After only a short time, marine plants grew in abundance on the wreck and the boat has become a pulling point for divers.
A memorial to the victims can be found in the nave of Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge....
, not far from the site of the disaster, where every year a service of remembrance is held for those who lost their lives.
A drama about the events surrounding the disaster, filmed by ITV Productions in association with Leeds-based Chameleon TV, was scheduled for broadcast on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
in late 2007. However, speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival
Edinburgh International Television Festival
The Edinburgh International Television Festival, founded in 1976, is held annually over the British August bank holiday weekend at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre....
on 25 August 2007, former ITV Director of Drama Nick Elliot confirmed that the drama would not be shown "in its present form", though it has since been shown on French TV. Relatives of some of those killed in the disaster had previously asked ITV not to broadcast the programme, although others thought it "crucial" that it be broadcast, "an excellent adaptation of the full horror of what happened."
20th anniversary
Twenty years on, various acts of remembrance were organised: the Coastguard placed 51 roses in the Thames, near to the site of the disaster. At Southwark Cathedral, the names of the victims were read at both Eucharists on 20 August 2009. Survivors and those who lost loved ones attended a service of choral evensong, sung by the Southwark Cathedral Merbecke ChoirSouthwark Cathedral Merbecke Choir
The Southwark Cathedral Merbecke Choir was established in late 2003 to provide a choir for ex-cathedral choristers to continue singing...
. The names of all 51 people who died in the tragedy
Tragedy (event)
A tragedy is an event in which one or more losses, usually of human life, occurs that is viewed as mournful. Such an event is said to be tragic....
were read out and two wreaths—one for the survivors, one for the dead—were laid at the Marchioness memorial within the cathedral. A documentary aired on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
in October 2009 called "The Marchioness: A Survivor's Story" which followed survivor Jonathan Phang's efforts to come to terms with the disaster.