Dividing Impact: The Tasman Bridge Collapse

thanks so much to ground news for sponsoring this episode at 9 27 p.m january 5th 1975 a bulk or carrier is veering dangerously off course on the eastern side of the derwent seconds later disaster and a city divided wiping out two pylons and bringing down a 127 metre section of road the mv lake illawarra is sinking fast above the unthinkable is happening as cars go over and down with the ship and as we're driving we just went over the apex and then all of a sudden darkness but headlights coming straight towards us and then disappearing just plunging down it was 1943 and the city of hobart capital of tasmania was finally getting a much-needed connection linking its downtown and eastern suburbs the hobart floating bridge separated by the river derwent the port city already had crossings much further north but with travel by automobile becoming prevalent the commute between each side of the city via these crossings far upriver was a one to two hour long journey hobart would also need the bridge to accommodate large vessels supplying crucial port side industry the hobart floating bridge was a monumental undertaking its unique concept intended to be an ingenious cost-effective solution to what was in the time period a complex problem after all it was even insured as a ship by lloyd's of london the floating bridge worthy of a video on its own however this unique design ultimately led to its multitude of issues instability plagued the structure in rough weather and tidal flows even after adding additional moorings and frequent raising of the channel span led to constant congestion the hobart floating bridge as impressive as it was from an engineering standpoint would be deemed obsolete relatively quickly the greater hobart area developing just too rapidly for it to accommodate and by 1956 design of a new more permanent solution would be commissioned tasmania's department of public works would bring on monsal and partners limited to research and design the most suitable replacement researching staying well informed avoiding misinformation and even disinformation they're crucial now more than ever we all have our biases myself included but getting news only from a favorite media outlet or single source isn't a way to objectively gather the facts ground news is both a cause and application i strongly support echo chambers media biases often create isolating bubbles and ground news is a crucial tool that helps you get the full story not just the feel good headlines from one side or the blood pressure raising spin of the other it's a better way to read the news free from algorithmic suggestions and targeted content their bias distribution chart is one of the features i use most showing the outlets reporting on a current story and their alignments the headline comparison tool shows how headline verbage changes between sources playing on your emotions and biases crucially the blind spot feed shows you stories that are underreported from either side of party lines the best part about ground news it's free with no sign ups or invasive data tracking required to use it if you realize the value of proper research and creating an informed opinion free from targeted results check out ground.news brick no signups no subscription fees no one-time charges ground.news brick monsol and partners concluded that an elevated stationary bridge high enough to allow unimpeded ship traffic would be the best option with construction beginning in may of 1960 the tasman bridge would be comprised of mostly pre-stressed concrete atop 10 foot wide dual columns these columns and their piers atop some 216 steel tube piles 54 inches in diameter the piles driven to depths of 265 feet below the water line into layers of stiff clay dolorite and basalt at 1.42 kilometers in length or 0.88 miles the original four-lane design would bridge the a3 highway near the royal tasmanian botanical gardens on the west side and suburb of montague bay on the east the tasman would open initially to two lanes in august of 1964. once construction was finalized all four lanes opening four months later on december 23rd the hobart floating bridge then taken out of service disassembled with the segments floated south and scuttled in storm bay of the tasman's 22 spans total most of which approximately 140 feet long span 1415 over the ship channel would be 150 feet high 350 feet long with the channel an approximate 100 to 115 feet deep the piers and columns on the side of the channel itself designed to quote withstand the frontal impact of large ships this main span and channel offset slightly to the east necessitated by the flow of the river the tasman bridge proved crucial from day one a lifeline relied upon heavily making hobart feel more unified than ever the suburban developments on the east side of the derwent rising in popularity from that point forward laid down and launched in 1958 by bhp out of wyala in south australia the ss lake illawarra under australian flag was a handy-sized bulk or carrier owned and operated by the australian national line and with a crew of 42 the vessel would be roughly 140 meters in length 18 meters in width or beam a draft of 9.57 meters a gross weight of 7 274 tons a dead weight of 10 380 tons and a top speed of roughly 13 knots some kenai viewers may have noticed the similarities between the lake elawara and the summit venture the slightly larger bulk cargo ship that struck tampa's sunshine skyway bridge in 1980 i'll have a link to that video and description if you're interested these bulk core carriers often haul dry powder or grain-like cargos for many different industries in summer of 1975 the lake illawarra was underway with a load of zinc or concentrate totaling around 10 000 tons and a crew of 42. in route from port pirie south australia bound for the electrolytic zinc company in the hobart port the vessel was due to arrive in hobart on the evening of january 5th ship pilot digby longhurst would have been the local guide to come aboard and man the khan as the lake illawarra transited the channel that night captain bj pelkto the vessel's long time master had an exemption that allowed him to navigate these waters under his own command it was an era in australia when these exemptions were easily attainable the practice also saved owners and operators a bit of time and money the seas were relatively calm on that sunday evening slight fog and a rainy mist blanketed the river derwent the derwent's well-known strong currents posing a further challenge that night as well as a 140 meter long cargo ship approached the tasman bridge channel all seemed normal the vessel traveling at a confident eight knots or full ahead shipping speed reports conflict but due to either inattention or otherwise lack of situational awareness captain pelk had unknowingly ordered this speed while on a course leading them west of the main navigation channel the vessel now roughly 1.3 kilometers or 0.8 miles from the bridge he quickly ordered the helmsman bring the vessel to starboard or simply put turn right and point the bow more toward the east in an effort to line back up with the channel at this point not yet ordering evasive maneuvers though pelk then ordered more steering inputs to starboard with only 700 meters or less than half a mile between them and the bridge the captain finally ordered the engines to full stop as he now had sight of the bridge's channel markers and could see they were clearly off course full stop though is not an order that brings a vessel to a stop this only stops the propulsion the vessel still moving forward under its momentum like when you take your foot off the gas in your car but don't apply the brakes elk then quickly barked hard a port to the helmsman ordering the ship to now turn hard in the other direction at the mercy of the river's current only 300 meters from the bridge now and careening out of control with the bow pointed east the size and mass of the vessel meant these efforts to change course into the ship channel would be in vain captain pelt desperate yelled full of stern double full of stern dropped both anchors triple full of stern these orders to reverse the engines and essentially put the brakes on were far too late at 9 27 pm the bull carrier slammed into pier 19 bow first then pier 18 roughly amid ships the bow pointing east it had drifted uncontrollably pouring all its inertia in a near broadside orientation into both pylons these relatively fragile columns and their peers destroyed instantly the over 120 meter or 400 foot of bridge spans left with no supports now crumbling and cracking under their own weight on board the now motionless lake illawarra captain pelk and helmsman banks stared at one another blankly unaware at first to the extent of the damage the entire scene frozen in an eerie calm before the storm type moment thank god it didn't hit hard helmsman banks said finally breaking the silence crew members had gathered on the bridge some continued fussing with the anchors at the focal on the bow others off duty startled from their bunks by the impact those on the ship's bridge watched the sagging unsupported spans almost directly above now sparks flying from electrical wires pulling apart cracks spidering and decks groaning as their segments buckled before anyone could react more than 7000 tons of concrete roadway fell 100 feet onto the ship the massive debris crashing directly onto the bow and focusal crushing those still working in the area the lake illawarra was now sinking rapidly being well into a sunday evening there was so little traffic at the time of impact no vehicles were occupying the spans as they fell many crewmen scrambled the ship sinking so fast some crew members in engineering didn't even have time to run up the stairs to the upper decks others more fortunate were able to jump overboard and swim to safety while roughly 20 others boarded a lifeboat the lifeboat though wouldn't release at first as the ship went down and at the last moment as the ship disappeared below the waves the lifeboat floated free and broke safely away from the doomed vessel the tasman though by this point in its life inspired confidence in the local area and was a relatively high speed highway bridge despite the light mist at night bringing both the fog and wet road surface the minimal traffic was still moving at or near highway speeds high above two vehicles had already plummeted off the edge 100 feet into the freezing river derwent murray ling driving his family and their old holden fb station wagon noticed at the last moment the bridge was out and slammed on the brakes the family coming to a stop mere inches from the edge a car behind them though not paying attention slammed into the rear of the family wagon pushing its front wheels over the edge the car's frame grinding it to a halt the family and the motorist behind them carefully eased out of their vehicles mr ling noticed two other vehicles approaching at highway speeds and attempted to flag them down but they instead zoomed past without slowing one of them even swerving to avoid him both disappearing into the chaos below husband and wife frank and sylvia manley were approaching in their holden monaro gts as they crested the bridge's incline fortunately mr lane's wagon and the car behind it caught frank's eye and he quickly decided to slow down then sylvia noticed the bridge was out altogether and yelled out frank stomped on the brakes at the last moment the car's momentum nearly taking it over the edge when miraculously the automatic transmission casing caught the edge as the front wheels went over and this brought the vehicle to a stop balancing precariously on the transmission frank and sylvia able to carefully exit the vehicle and get to safety as well [Music] there were multiple small vessels and a local ferry on site immediately pulling as many survivors out of the water as they could several would be pulled to safety including the lifeboat captain pelk was among those aboard and rescued in total 12 souls were lost five amongst the four cars that fell and seven crew members of the lake illawarra dive teams would immediately get to work searching for victims in the sunken vessel and stricken vehicles now lost in the river it was a dangerous and painstaking task the river dirt went up to 35 meters or 115 feet deep all but one victim would eventually be recovered the city of hobart in addition to being devastated was also now divided once again the ballooning suburbs stretched across the east side relied solely on hobart's west portion for all industrial employment and even emergency medical services local passenger ferries would be reinstated in the meantime but these were quickly overwhelmed cues of passengers conducting business trying to go to work waiting for hours local officials noted that the bridge was dangerously unstable the other glaring issue that could no longer be ignored a road system with so little redundancy and poor planning that one incident could bring an entire metropolitan area and nearly all its commerce to a complete halt another major concern was expectant mothers who relied completely on facilities to the west you had to time your labor very well so that you didn't need to deliver during the change over the lake illawarra was in an upright position on the river bottom but at depths of 100 feet plus was not obstructing the ship channel the ship was however inadvertently integrated into the remaining eastern bridges foundation now removing the vessel completely would risk bringing portions of the bridge down it was decided the lake illawarra would remain in this state the oil removed and 10 000 tons of zinc ore reportedly safely sealed in the cargo holds tasmania with federal funding would ultimately rebuild the bridge restoring what was left still standing and adding a fifth lane in the process after a months long investigation of bridge debris the stability of the sunken bolt carrier and traffic needs in the area construction would be completed in october of 1977 only one pier of the two destroyed would be rebuilt the vessel and debris below cited as preventing construction atop it the longer span instead reinforced and more resilient fenders would be added to the main channel piers sensors were installed to give real-time condition updates to all vessels nearby such as river currents tidal flows wind speeds and local ship traffic large vessels would now require both a local pilot and tug the tug necessary to aid in steering through the channel as large vessels approach a system of traffic lights halt all vehicle movements above and keep the main span clear until ships have transited in 1984 the bowen bridge was also added further north it's just upriver of any ports that service large vessels and thus doesn't require a large navigation channel there were mixed feelings about captain pelk's competency as a mariner although suspicions of him being drunk would be disproven by a toxicology he would still have his license suspended for six months as authorities attributed the collision ultimately to his negligence and inattention the initial navigation errors combined with lacking or incorrect response to resolve the situation quickly the crew was also criticized for sending no warning down to the engineers below decks however some investigators felt the opposite about the captain sir john spicer chairman of the court of marine inquiry said there was no evidence to show that captain pelk had been an incompetent master other than through his actions which led to the collapse of the bridge on the contrary other than in this event captain pelk has been a qualified and competent master adding pell could be an honorable man and an honest witness from everything i've gathered it's also clear that at the time there was no system of buoy markers as a guide along the ship channel only what i've seen referred to as bridge markers likely markings or lights directly on the bridge itself the clarence city council is holding an exhibition to mark the anniversary alan tell us what we're looking at here the off course alarm from the lake illawarra okay in theory what it should do is sound an alarm and it's got a little light here the lights up which tells you if you're going seriously of course uh from your pathway under the bridge so the big question is did it not sound or did it malfunction and of course we don't know the answer to that pelc made public his intentions to return to seafaring after his suspension though his employer australian national line retired him from service anyhow dr thomas alva jones a medical practitioner from the uk had lived in tasmania with his wife and three children since 1965. dr jones wife suffering a stroke in late 1974 was a long-term patient at royal hobart hospital his commute from their family home in an east tide suburb took him across the tasman bridge regularly dr jones was on his way home after visiting her sunday evening january 5th 1975. he was among those motorists to drive off the edge that fateful night after more than 40 years the magistrates court finally closing the case attributing his death officially to the collapse dr jones was the only motorist to go over the edge that night never to be recovered in 1999 it was proposed that a 25th anniversary memorial service be held since then multiple memorials have also been unveiled a plaque in queens domain on the west side and a very poignant sculpture near the montague bay reserve on the east putting these videos together via in-depth proper research can take time thus my content isn't super frequent but it's thanks in large part to so many great supporters that i can put these videos together with the quality and depth i feel they deserve and a special thanks goes out to those top tier supporters alex w andrew m jenny e jeremy h kenneth p nathan f paul r and zachary d thanks so much for watching everyone and don't forget your safety is crucial [Music]

Channel: Brick Immortar

Views: 494,374

Keywords: bridge collapse, tasmanian history, tasman bridge, bridge collapses, bulk ore carrier, tasmania disaster, tasmania bridge collapse, tasmania bridge accident, why did the tasman bridge collapse, lake illawarra shipwreck, mv lake illawarra sinking, boleslaw pelc, australia national line, australian disasters, australia bridge disaster, river derwent bridge collapse, bridge failures, derwent river bridge disaster, hobart bridge disaster, hobart floating bridge

Id: Q0yaMq99CZA

Length: 19min 23sec (1163 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 27 2022