Deadly sea crashes 55 years ago changed shipping

A series of disasters in the English Channel which claimed 50 lives in 1971 helped bring about safety measures that are still used today, a former coastguard has said.

The incidents unfolded in the Dover Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping routes, 55 years ago. Guidance existed for vessels travelling through the strait, but compliance was not compulsory at that point.

Retired coastguard Pete Legg told Secret Kent: "There was a traffic separation scheme at that time, but it was not mandatory."

He described the scale of the disaster as "absolutely unbelievable". He said it could not be allowed to happen again.

Legg said the chain of events began when the Panamanian tanker Texaco Caribbean collided with the Peruvian freighter Paracas in thick fog on 11 January 1971.

He said the explosion would have been heard from Sandwich all the way to Dungeness.

The tanker exploded, split in two and sank, and eight sailors died.

A major rescue operation followed, with lifeboat crews from Dover and Dungeness saving more than 20 people.

The tragedy did not end there.

Part of the wreck remained in the shipping lane, and the next day, the German freighter Brandenburg hit the wreck and sank, despite it being marked to warn passing vessels.

Eleven crew members were rescued, but seven bodies were recovered and 14 people on board were unaccounted for.

A lightship and light buoys were placed around the wreck, but weeks later, the Greek motor vessel Niki collided with the submerged wreckage during reduced visibility.

Legg said that the ship disappeared without making a distress call and all 21 crew members were lost.

According to HM Coastguard, the disasters became a matter of "parliamentary urgency".

An inquiry highlighted poor wreck-marking, failures in radio communication, vulnerabilities in analogue navigation as well as the absence of co-ordinated traffic control, coastguards said.

They say that over the decades since, the Dover Strait has transformed from being a loosely regulated corridor to one of the most closely monitored shipping lanes in the world.

Reflecting on the events, Legg said the 50 people who died left a lasting legacy.

"Traffic separation schemes, they are the thing," he said.

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