A NEW Liverpool Pier Head memorial is planned to commemorate the people who died on the biggest UK ship ever to be lost.
The MV Derbyshire Family Association (DFA) hopes to raise a memorial to the 44 men and women who died when the Bibby Line bulk carrier Derbyshire sank in the Pacific Ocean more than 30 years ago.
Derbyshire, registered in Liverpool, sank on September 9, 1980, during Typhoon Orchid, south of Japan. At 91,655 gross tons, Derbyshire is the biggest British ship lost. It is proposed that the memorial, which will list the names of all those lost, will be placed near the Pier Head’s Merchant Navy Memorial, by next summer.
Paul Lambert, chairman of DFA, said: “The memorial will also mark the persistence of the few who ensured the name Derbyshire was stitched into the very fabric of maritime safety.
“Though dedicated to one ship, it would also be the focal point for all those who have lost loved ones in ships that have become the graves of their crews.
“The DFA will be setting up a trust fund, towards financing such a memorial. It’s a big ask, but then so was finding the Derbyshire’s wreck. We managed that in spite of murmurings of us ‘looking for a needle in a haystack’.”
There will be an official fund-raising launch for the £30,000 memorial later this month. Anyone wishing to donate to the memorial now can write to Paul Lambert, 210 Fincham Road, Huyton, Liverpool, L14 9NP, with cheques made out to Derbyshire Trust Fund.
