Memorial service to remember loss of MV Derbyshire
THE 30th anniversary of the loss of Liverpool bulk carrier mv Derbyshire was remembered at a memorial ceremony in the city.
Family and friends gathered at Liverpool Parish Church, Our Lady and St Nicholas, Chapel Street, to remember the 44 people who died when the Liverpool-registered tanker sank south of Japan during Hurricane Orchid, in 1980.
After years of rumours blaming bad seamanship, it was eventually discovered that the ship flooded because of a structural fault and the crew were exonerated.
The mv Derbyshire Family Association chairman, Paul Lambert, said: “Though the loss was a long time ago, the improvements made to render bulkers safer, following lessons learned from a full investigation of the Derbyshire loss, are recent.
“The encouragement of Merseysiders played its part in helping the families bring about these improvements, preserving, if history is the guide, thousands of lives in the future.”
