9 September 0930 GMT; Now hove to due to severe tropical storm; estimated time of arrival Kawasaki 14th hopefully"

the last radio message from the bulker Derbyshire , lost with 44 souls on this day in 1980.

We remember them.

Yes sparks, a tragic loss that was, I attended a service in our village church this morning, one of the perished souls was my next door neighbour at the time, G W Williams AB. stan.

i agree with you, it was a shocking event. no time for any of the crew to try and save themselves. i suppose you all seen the results of the investigation into it's loss?

In June that year I arrived back in Liverpool after four and a half months on the Lincolnshire, another Bibby Line ship, with six or seven weeks paid leave available. My first trip to sea.
Around the middle of July I received a call from Stan Clayton, the crewing manager for Bibbys at the time, asking me if I fancied going back early. As I still had a couple of weeks leave due to me I didn't feel ready to go away again but didn't want to jeopardise my future with Bibby. With assurances from Stan that I'd be offered the next ship to become available if I didn't take this one I turned down his offer. The offer was to join the Derbyshire.
A month later I joined the Hampshire and was devastated when the news of the loss of the Derbyshire reached us.
To this day I still suffer mixed emotions of guilt and relief whenever I think of the Derbyshire.

that's fate for you, it wasn't your time gynsman. i think that i can comprehend what you say about guilt etc, even though you had nothing to do with the outcome.

we can be lucky being alive, good or bad alive anyway.

Totally agree Harry. If your names on it, that's it. If not ,thank your your lucky stars and live your life for those who cannot, but I know you can never forget them and that is as it should be.