The Marchioness disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989. It resulted in the deaths of 51 people, four of whom were crew and bar staff. An investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch blamed a lack of lookouts, but their report was criticised by the families of the victims. The government refused to hold an inquiry, despite pressure from the families.
About Marchioness disaster in brief
The Marchioness disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989. It resulted in the deaths of 51 people, four of whom were crew and bar staff. Both vessels were heading downstream, against the tide, Bowbelle travelling faster than the smaller vessel. An investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch blamed a lack of lookouts, but their report was criticised by the families of the victims. The government refused to hold an inquiry, despite pressure from the families. A formal inquiry in 2000 concluded that \”The basic cause of the collision is clear. It was poor lookout on both vessels. Neither vessel saw the other in time to take action to avoid the collision. The collision and the subsequent reports led to increased safety measures on the Thames, and four new lifeboat stations were installed on the river. The pleasure boat MarchionESS was built in 1923 by the Salter Brothers of Oxford for Joseph Mears, a businessman whose interests included running pleasure launches. She was one of the little ships that aided in the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation, and was requisitioned during the Second World War by the Thames Hospital Emergency Service, when she was stationed in Dagenham. On the night of her sinking, she also carried two members of bar staff, and had seven life rafts—each of which could support twenty people—and seven lifebuoys each ofwhich could support two people. Marchions was sold to Thames Launches in 1945, when Mears’s company was wound up, and she was purchased by Tidal Cruises Ltd in 1978 and the upper works were rebuilt to form an upper and lower saloon.
The new upper saloon obstructed the vision from the wheelhouse, and there was, the later inquiry established, a Lack of easily accessible emergency exits, particularly from the lower decks. Marchionesses was 85. 5ft long and 14. 5 ft at the beam, and measured 46. 19 gross tons. She was registered in London, she was licensed to carry 165 passengers, and her captain was Stephen Faldo; the mate was Andrew McGowan. Faldo and McGowan had a business partnership, Top Bar Enterprises, which provided the bar staff and drink for the party. A private prosecution for manslaughter against four directors of South Coast Shipping Company, the owners of Bowbell, and corporate manslaughter against the company was dismissed because of lack of evidence. A later inquiry found that Faldo had forgotten to renew his riverman’s licence in the run-up to the collision and was not technically entitled to run the vessel that night. The captain of Marchions had completed his apprentice courses at the Port of London Authority for chartwork and seamanship around May 1988; he joined the crew as a crew member in May 1988. He became an apprentice waterman in June 1986, age 21, at the age of 21, and became a permanent captain in June 1988. The death toll was 24; 24 bodies were found within the ship when it was raised.
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This page is based on the article Marchioness disaster published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 03, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
