 collapse disaster |
|
the victims • memorial • documentary • books comments • other skyway/boat collisions • sitemap ►your thoughts or memories about the disaster bottom of this page • home • additions/contact offsite links could be broken at any time. |
other skyway/boat collisionsupdated: 05.18.20 |
| the bridge catches ships and boats from time to time. |
| 12.21.56: full article |
 |
| 08.31.70: full article |
 
|
| 01.17.72: full article |
|
| 08.20.73: full article |
|
| 09.22.74: boat hits bridge. |
|
| 05.26.76: full article |
|
| 05.19.77: full article |
|
| 05.02.78: almost accident. |
full article 05.13.80: full article detailing this 05.02.78 almost accident.  |
| 01.28.80: ship 'Capricorn' collides with the coast guard tender 'Blackthorn' near the Skyway, 23 die. |
01.30.80: St. Petersburg Times full page articles: front page •
page 7 •
page 16 01.30.80: full article  02.08.80: full article  02.20.80: full article  02.20.80: full article  02.21.80: full article  01.25.81: full article  01.28.15, wusf.usf.edu, Ceremony Remembers Those Lost in Coast Guard Disaster, It still stands as the U.S. Coast Guard's worst peacetime disaster. And 35 years later survivors, family members and supporters still gather near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge each year to remember the sinking of the Blackthorn. On Wednesday morning, a memorial service was held to remember the 23 crew members who lost their lives when the Blackthorn sank near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The ship sank when it collided with a tanker, the Capricorn. Members of the Clearwater Coast Guard Air Station performed an aerial flyover salute under bright blue skies and in a cool stiff January wind as the ship's bell rang one time for each of the lives lost. Master Chief Petty Officer Steven Cantrell read the names of those who died that night, to the sound of 23 sharp, clear strikes of a bell. Steve Coleman is now a high school science teacher in Georgia. But he was a 21-year-old seaman apprentice that night and he says rarely does a day go by when he doesn't think about that night. "All of the details of the night of January 28th are especially clear in my memory and I've shared the story with hundreds and hundreds of people," said Coleman. Following the reading of the names, numerous wreaths were placed at the site of the marker bearing the names of the victims. A Coast Guard helicopter hovered just off the coast, dropping a wreath into the Gulf waters and bagpipers played amazing grace. "I have a tendency to tear up and get choked up at this ceremony and today will be no exception," said Coleman. 01.27.17, tbreporter.com, Coast Guard to Honor Those Lost on the Blackthorn extensive 64 page article about the accident. 7mb  |
| 02.06.80: ship hits bridge. |
02.07.80: full article 02.07.80: full article  02.08.80: full article  03.18.80: full article 
|
| 02.16.80: boat hits bridge. |
02.16.80: full article 02.18.80: full article  02.19.80: full opinion article 
|
05.09.80: ship collision collapses the skyway. 35 die. |
| 11.09.82: full article |
|
| 11.09.82: full article |
|
| 11.12.82: full article |
|
| 02.13.83: barge hits bridge. full article |
|
| 11.08.84: barge hits bridge. |
11.08.84: full article 11.09.84: full article  06.21.85: full article 
|
| 01.21.85: full article |
|
| 10.18.85: full article |
|
| 07.14.86: full article |
|
| 04.29.87: trawler rams skyway. |
full article full article  |
| 03.28.07: almost accident. |
|
03.28.07,
sptimes.com, Skyway scare sends shudders ST. PETERSBURG - Tobias Rose was navigating a 378-foot freighter filled with more than 10,000 metric tons of phosphate and heading toward the Sunshine Skyway bridge Wednesday when the ship's power and steering suddenly failed. At that moment, the Antilles II was roughly 2,000 yards from the Skyway, where 35 people died in 1980 after a 608-foot ship rammed it. So Rose decided to run the ship aground rather than let it veer toward the Skyway, said Allen Thompson, executive director of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association, who spoke to Rose after the incident early Wednesday. Harbor pilots guide about 5,000 large ships in and out of the Tampa port each year. The Florida Highway Patrol closed the bridge to cars and trucks early Wednesday as a precaution, backing up traffic for miles. It reopened it in less than two hours. "The key thing was that he realized some evasive action was necessary," Thompson said. "I think he felt the only action was put the vessel aground or risk a worst-case scenario." But another worst-case Skyway tragedy seems unlikely, officials say. After the May 1980 Skyway accident, a new bridge was built, designed to try to make sure the tragedy could not happen again. So was the bridge in danger of collapsing again on Wednesday? "The answer to that is that we have a system of protections in place to prevent" such a disaster, said Pepe Garcia, a structures and facilities engineer with the state Department of Transportation. Garcia pointed to two key features: - Giant concrete and wood disks called "dolphins" placed around bridge supports. These are supposed to act like bumpers, preventing ships from reaching the supports. - Islands of rocks built around the biggest bridge supports in the channel. These are designed to make a ship run into the rocks before it could strike the supports. Garcia said it's still good news the ship did not hit either of these features, because they could have damaged the ship and harmed the protective features themselves. "I'm glad that no one got hurt as far as I understand," Garcia said. "No one in the ship or anywhere." A Coast Guard investigation is continuing. Something was up Among early morning anglers on the two Skyway fishing piers, the incident went almost unnoticed. Shaun Martinez of Tampa spent most of the night on the north pier. He said he saw a lot of police activity but had no idea what it was about. "There were police lights along the bridge as far as I could see, and helicopters in the air with spotlights, and I knew something was going on, but I couldn't tell what it was," Martinez said. Robert Abbenauer of Boston, who was fishing on the south Skyway pier, said he noticed lights near the shipping channel. "I thought they might be a ship. But they weren't moving, so I couldn't be sure until daybreak, when it was pretty obvious," Abbenauer said. It wasn't clear Wednesday how Rose was able to maneuver the ship when the steering was malfunctioning. He could not be reached. But after the incident, the hull of the Antilles II came to rest in the sandy bottom south of Tampa Bay's shipping channel, about 400 yards east of the Skyway. With the U.S. Coast Guard supervising and an assist from a high tide, workers on three tugs yanked the ship loose about noon, and tugged it to Port Manatee for an inspection. The Panamanian ship, which has a draft of 27 feet, was carrying 10,000 metric tons of phosphate and 78 metric tons of fuel to power the ship. The incident stopped ship traffic in and out of the Port of Tampa and Port Manatee and delayed about 10 vessels. Workers using a new system that tracks ship movements in Tampa Bay saw the Antilles II was heading aground early Wednesday and called the Coast Guard. The system, called the Cooperative Vessel Traffic Service, monitors ships in much the same way that air traffic controllers monitor airplane flights. -- Times staff writers Jean Heller and Steve Huettel contributed to this report. Length of freighter: 378 feet Draft: 27 feet Cargo: 10,000 metric tons of phosphate Fuel: 78 metric tons Location: 400 yards east of Sunshine Skyway Skyway auto traffic closed: 1 hour, 40 minutes full article 
|
|
photos •
videos •
articles: 1980 /
1981-99 /
2000- the victims • memorial • documentary • books comments • other skyway/boat collisions • sitemap ►your thoughts or memories about the disaster top of this page • home • additions/contact more at skywaybridge.com |
|
|
|
|