The sinking of MV Derbyshire
This online feature and accompanying display were created to mark the 25th anniversary of the sinking in 2005. Images and text provided courtesy of the Derbyshire Family Association. Please note that this is no longer on display in the museum.
Detail from the capacity plan of MV Liverpool Bridge,
the original
name
of MV Derbyshire.
Copyright HMSO, reproduced by kind permission.
Before 1960 two different types of ship were used to transport commodities depending on the type of cargo.
Oil tankers carried liquid cargoes including:
Bulk carriers transported a variety of solid cargoes including:
In the mid 1960s a new type of ship, the OBO (oil/bulk/ore), was introduced. OBOs offer greater flexibility, being designed to carry both solid and liquid cargoes in bulk. The Derbyshire was such a vessel and on different occasions in her short life of four years she carried coal, crude oil, iron ore and tapioca pellets.
As with other OBOs the design of Derbyshire was more complicated than a tanker or a bulk carrier but, potentially, they would earn more. These ships also had to be built very strongly because of the high concentrations of weight when loading and carrying heavy iron ore cargoes, which caused tremendous stresses.
The limited number of loading gantries at the loading berth meant that only one or two holds could be loaded at a time. This caused high sheer forces and bending moments between loaded and empty holds.
When carrying iron ore not all the holds would be used because the ore is so heavy. On her final voyage the Derbyshire sailed with holds 2 and 6 empty.
MV Derbyshire was: