Kukri
Well-known member
Some pipe being carried on the aft side decks intended to be used for replacement of corroded piping broke free from lashings and sheared off a fuel tank vent pipe - presumably the service tank vent - iirc.
Could similar Lifeboat incidents happen again
- Thread starter Capt Popeye
- Start date
Some pipe being carried on the aft side decks intended to be used for replacement of corroded piping broke free from lashings and sheared off a fuel tank vent pipe - presumably the service tank vent - iirc.
michael_w
Well-known member
For want of a nail ....
Kukri
Well-known member
The Report of the Formal Investigation into the losses of the “Union Star” and of the RNLI Penlee lifeboat “Solomon Browne” does not seem to have been “digitised”, and one would have to buy a copy from the Public Records Office at Kew.
However I did find a summary, in the RNLI journal “The Lifeboat”, and here it is.
The Court of Enquiry sat at Penzance for six weeks. Richard Stone, QC, the Commissioner for Wrecks who presided, was both a very able lawyer and one of the nicest men you could hope to meet; he was the QC who was most often picked as a Wreck Commissioner; one of the other cases with heavy loss of life where he was the Commissioner was the loss of the “Marques”. I’m sure that he will have been scrupulously careful. Having known him myself I’ll just add that his knowledge of naval architecture and seamanship was remarkable.
One thing I do pick up from the summary of the report is that he seems to have found that the water entered the fuel tanks because the breather pipes were not carried high enough above the deck.
However I did find a summary, in the RNLI journal “The Lifeboat”, and here it is.
The Court of Enquiry sat at Penzance for six weeks. Richard Stone, QC, the Commissioner for Wrecks who presided, was both a very able lawyer and one of the nicest men you could hope to meet; he was the QC who was most often picked as a Wreck Commissioner; one of the other cases with heavy loss of life where he was the Commissioner was the loss of the “Marques”. I’m sure that he will have been scrupulously careful. Having known him myself I’ll just add that his knowledge of naval architecture and seamanship was remarkable.
One thing I do pick up from the summary of the report is that he seems to have found that the water entered the fuel tanks because the breather pipes were not carried high enough above the deck.
Last edited:
Kukri
Well-known member
A photo of the twin sister of the “Union Star”, the “Union Mars”. 986 GRT, 1,380 DWT.
penfold
Well-known member
Difficult to keep breathers above the water on what is 2nd cousin to a flatiron.
Kukri
Well-known member
It seems the modification that Dick Stone wanted was effective, because she went on to lead a very long life:
BalticShipping.com
Last edited:
Kukri
Well-known member
Still, she seems to have stopped trading 9 years ago:
Kukri
Well-known member
I have edited this in the light of Penberth’s corrections, below:
I have been trying to sort out the time scale of events. Dick Stone did it but his Report isn’t available.
It looks as if the “Union Star” got water into her fuel through the tank breathers and her engine stopped in the late afternoon. She never sent a distress message but she did inform the Coast Guard that she was stopped, and the Wijsmuller salvage tug “Noord Holland” (she was a proper salvage tug, not a harbour tug or an anchor handler) responded and went to sea. This was around 6pm
When the “Noord Holland” was in sight of the “Union Star”, or possibly sooner, she offered to tow the coaster to safety on Lloyds Form terms.
Captain Morton of the “Union Star” rejected this. It seems that either he was not aware of his ship’s extremely dangerous position (it was dark, GPS did not exist) and thought she was further off than she was, or his judgment was affected. He seems to have taken his step daughters on board without his owners’ permission, and to have deviated to Brightlingsea to pick them up.
Were these events to take place today, the Sosrep would have over ruled him and ordered him to take the tug. Except of course that there are no deep sea salvage tugs nearer than Brest, and that tug is on charter to the French Government to protect the French coast, so she wouldn’t be available anyway.
In the event the Coast Guard wisely decided to contact the Union Star’s owners and get them to order Captain Morton to take the tug. But Union Transport were an Irish company and they had no UK representatives. In those days the Coast Guard would have had to proceed by calling Lloyds Intelligence, at Colchester, or perhaps Directory Enquiries…
In the end the Coast Guard did get hold of Union Transport and Union Transport did authorise Captain Morton to take the tug on LOF terms.
But it was too late.
The helicopter could not get a man on board. The crew could not get forward to secure a tow line. And by the time the Penlee lifeboat arrived the ship was already in the breakers.
I have been trying to sort out the time scale of events. Dick Stone did it but his Report isn’t available.
It looks as if the “Union Star” got water into her fuel through the tank breathers and her engine stopped in the late afternoon. She never sent a distress message but she did inform the Coast Guard that she was stopped, and the Wijsmuller salvage tug “Noord Holland” (she was a proper salvage tug, not a harbour tug or an anchor handler) responded and went to sea. This was around 6pm
When the “Noord Holland” was in sight of the “Union Star”, or possibly sooner, she offered to tow the coaster to safety on Lloyds Form terms.
Captain Morton of the “Union Star” rejected this. It seems that either he was not aware of his ship’s extremely dangerous position (it was dark, GPS did not exist) and thought she was further off than she was, or his judgment was affected. He seems to have taken his step daughters on board without his owners’ permission, and to have deviated to Brightlingsea to pick them up.
Were these events to take place today, the Sosrep would have over ruled him and ordered him to take the tug. Except of course that there are no deep sea salvage tugs nearer than Brest, and that tug is on charter to the French Government to protect the French coast, so she wouldn’t be available anyway.
In the event the Coast Guard wisely decided to contact the Union Star’s owners and get them to order Captain Morton to take the tug. But Union Transport were an Irish company and they had no UK representatives. In those days the Coast Guard would have had to proceed by calling Lloyds Intelligence, at Colchester, or perhaps Directory Enquiries…
In the end the Coast Guard did get hold of Union Transport and Union Transport did authorise Captain Morton to take the tug on LOF terms.
But it was too late.
The helicopter could not get a man on board. The crew could not get forward to secure a tow line. And by the time the Penlee lifeboat arrived the ship was already in the breakers.
Last edited:
Kukri
Well-known member
De mortuiis nil nisi bonum, but:
The ship was an up river “flatiron” type and the masts fold flat. The navigation lights were on the mainmast and foremast and probably the ships motion was too bad to allow the mast to be dropped, but if it had been the helicopter might have been able to get a winchman onto the deck.
The “Noord Holland” had enough power to tow the little “Union Star” stern first, had action been taken in time and assuming that there was an adequate means of securing the tow.
The ship was an up river “flatiron” type and the masts fold flat. The navigation lights were on the mainmast and foremast and probably the ships motion was too bad to allow the mast to be dropped, but if it had been the helicopter might have been able to get a winchman onto the deck.
The “Noord Holland” had enough power to tow the little “Union Star” stern first, had action been taken in time and assuming that there was an adequate means of securing the tow.
penfold
Well-known member
That looks like a hawsepipe so there must be bitts and a winch somewhere on the sterncastle.
penberth3
Well-known member
A couple of points there.
Union Star called the coastguard, the call is in the BBC documentary.
I don't think the Tug was "within sight" of the Union Star as early as 6pm. I think the initial radio call was around 6pm.
It might be more accurate to say Union Transport "authorised" the Captain to use the tug, not "ordered".
Union Star dropped an anchor at some stage. So did manage to get forward to do that, somehow - a remarkable achievement. Attaching a tow would have been a lot harder than dropping an anchor.
Kukri
Well-known member
Thanks. Useful. I’ve corrected my post.
To judge by the picture of her sister ship, the “Union Star” had a stern anchor - I suspect that may have been the one that was dropped.
Last edited:
penberth3
Well-known member
Long time since I read about it, I think it was the bow anchor. Brought the bow to the waves, stopped the rolling and gave the helicopter a second chance, but then parted.
Kukri
Well-known member
The “Noord Holland”. Built 1965, re-engined to 6,000 bhp 1975. 32 tons bollard pull. 48 metres LOA x 11 metres beam, so just 20 metres shorter than the “Union Star”, with the same beam. Just the job.
Last edited:
Kukri
Well-known member
Absolutely. I expect most people know this but for those who may not:
Attaching a salvage tug’s towline usually involved the following steps, in 1981 (we have better materials now):
1. Getting a line across. In fine weather, a heaving line, in bad either a Schermuly rocket line or (for tankers) a Kongsberg gun line. The casualty’s crew had to catch this, then pass it through a bow fairlead (ideally the Panama fairlead - the one right in the middle) or an aft fairlead, and then use it to haul in…
2. The messenger. The intermediate rope, strong enough to take the weight of the tow wire itself, but light enough not to break the rocket line. This would be a fibre rope, but it would be too heavy and awkward to be brought in by manual hauling, particularly in a strong wind. It needed to be taken to a winch drum.
If the casualty were a dead ship, there were tricks, like returning the first line to the tug, which used its own crew and its own winch to haul the rocket line and the messenger round the casualty’s fairlead and back to the tug. This was “easy” in fine weather…
Once the messenger was on a winch drum it was used to haul over…
3. The towing connection itself. This consisted of a couple of flexible wire rope tails, to be turned up on the bollards, a length of high tensile chain (“towing chain”) to take the chafe in the fairlead, a length of wire rope leader, a length of double nylon rope as a spring, this was huge) and then the tugs’s winch wire.
Lots of brutally heavy work, on a wet, pitching, rolling, deck, whereas dropping an anchor just needs the stopper taking off and gravity…
Last edited: