The MV ''Summit Venture'' was a

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...

that is best known for colliding into the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1980. It was built in 1976 by

Oshima Shipbuilding Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. is a privately held Japanese shipbuilding company. The company was founded on February 7, 1973, and began operations in June 1974. It is a joint venture between Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, a ...

Co. of Nagasaki, Japan. She was long, had a breadth of , deadweight of 33,912 tons, gross weight of 19,735 tons and a net weight of 13,948 tons. After being repaired from colliding into the Sunshine skyway bridge it would go through several different owners. It would sink off Vietnamese coast in 2010 under the name of ''Jian Mao 9''.

1980 incident

''Summit Venture'' was involved in a fatal collision with the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, on May 9, 1980. While negotiating a required turn in the narrow channel during a storm, the

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

failed, and the freighter struck one of the piers on the southbound span of the bridge. of the steel cantilever highway bridge collapsed, causing a Greyhound bus, a truck, and six other vehicles to fall into the bay. A total of 35 people died. SunshineSkyway ALB

The pilot of ''Summit Venture'' on that day was John E. Lerro. He was cleared of wrongdoing by both a state

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

and a Coast Guard investigation. In 2016 the book titled ''Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay's Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought It Down'' shed new light on what transpired on the day of the accident. Although Capt. Lerro resumed his shipping duties soon afterward, he was forced to retire months later by the onset of

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

, dying from complications caused by the disease on August 31, 2002, at the age of 59. Wesley MacIntire was the only person who survived the fall. His truck fell off the bridge but bounced off the bow of ''Summit Venture'' before falling into Tampa Bay. He was pulled from the water by the ship's crew. Physically, MacIntire only suffered from a cut on the head and water in his lungs. He sued the company that owned the ship, and settled for $175,000 in 1984. He died in 1989 of bone cancer at the age of 65, always regretting being the sole survivor among those that fell. Every year he drove to the bridge on the accident's anniversary and saluted those who did not survive. A new bridge was completed in 1987 to replace the old. Several safeguards were included in the design to prevent a repeat occurrence of the ''Summit Venture'' incident, such as the installation of massive concrete bumpers or " dolphins" around the main span's piers to mitigate collisions.

Return to service and subsequent demise

''Summit Venture'', after having her hull repaired, continued service under the same name. It would go to Tampa for the last time in September 1990 to be inspected by the US Coast Guard. It would be sold by its original owner Hercules Carriers from Monrovia, Liberia to Endeavor Shipping from Greece in November 1993 being rechristened to ''Sailor I'' which mostly worked along the US West Coast. It would be sold once again in May 2004 to Frontier Shipping Inc from Singapore. After being sold it was renamed to ''KS Harmony'' and flew a Panamanian flag servicing the Caribbean Sea. It would sink off the Vietnamese coast in 2010 under the name of ''Jian Mao 9''. All 26 crew members onboard were rescued by a container ship, ''Nyk Aquarius.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Summit Venture 1980 in the United States Maritime incidents in 1980 Merchant ships of the United States