Return of the Coffin Ships: The Derbyshire Enigma - Softcover

Bernard Edwards

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1883283191 ISBN 13: 9781883283193

Publisher: Brick Tower Press (UK), 1998

Synopsis

In September 1980, the British ship Derbyshire sailed into the eye of Typhoon Orchid and on into oblivion, taking all on board with her. The destructive power of a typhoon is awesome, but the Derbyshire was no small and ageing tramp, running red rust with a crew of deadbeats culled from the backwaters of the world. She was just four years old, manned entirely by competent British seamen and maintained to the highest standards. She matched the best afloat in her day. How then could this great ship have disappeared so quickly and completely, with not even a faint cry for help, and leaving only a thin film of oil on the sea to mark her passing? The only good thing to come out of whatever appalling calamity over-whelmed the Derbyshire was that it turned the spotlight on a hitherto unrecognised phenomenon -- the disappearing bulk carriers. In this powerful book, Bernard Edwards, master mariner turned writer, reports on his investigations into the loss of a number of these giant bulk carriers and offers a new and controversial solution to the Derbyshire mystery, at the same time taking the lid off the on-going scandal of the disappearing bulk carriers.

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Review

"Wonderful! Really terrific. A first-rate piece of research." - Stan Bernard, NBC News -- Stan Bernard,NBC News

From the Publisher

In September 1980, the British ship DERBYSHIRE sailed into the eye of Typhoon Orchid and on into oblivion, taking all on board with her. It is known that she lies quiet in her grave more than 2,000 fathoms down in the Pacific Ocean, yet she still comes back to haunt us. To haunt those who mourn her dead, those who bear the burden of guilt for things undone, and those who over the years have shown so little enthusiasm to seek out the truth. For the misguided zealots who today preach with such passion the doctrine of "big is beautiful", her loss is a lesson yet to be learned. And the DERBYSHIRE was big. At 169,044 tons deadweight, 970 feet long and 145 feet in the beam, she could have accommodated the TITANIC, that 'unsinkable' marvel of early 20th century science and technology, on her foredeck. Both ships are now gone, mouldering on the bottom of separate oceans, but the TITANIC, even with the passage of almost half a century, still fascinates the historians and media men... The horror of the TITANIC's loss was screamed to the world and much of Europe and America went into mourning. The DERBYSHIRE, on the other hand, slipped beneath the waves almost unnoticed. But then, for all her great size, she was only a common carrier of oils and ores, her only passengers two officer's wives... The national dailies gave her a column or two, radio and television made mention of her disappearance, but before the year was out she was largely forgotten, except by those who mourned for her crew. The question they continue to ask is, why?

About this edition

• Publisher: Brick Tower Press (UK)
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1883283191
• ISBN 13: 9781883283193
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288