M/V ''Pool Fisher'' was a British merchant vessel that sank off the

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on 6 November 1979 with the loss of most of her crew.

Service history

''Pool Fisher'' was built in Holland and launched in 1959.

Loss

On 3 November 1979 ''Pool Fisher'' arrived at

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

from Norway in ballast. She had a crew of 15, and one passenger, the wife of the Chief Engineer, aboard. At about 13:00 the same day she sailed from Hamburg carrying 1,250 tonnes of muriate of potash in bulk, bound for

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

. At 22:50 on 5 November the ''Esso Penzance'' sighted ''Pool Fisher'' about eleven miles south of Brighton, steering erratically and seemingly down by the head, in heavy seas. At 05:47 on 6 November the

coast radio station A coast (or coastal) radio station (short: coast station) is an on-shore maritime radio station which may monitor radio distress frequencies and relays ship-to-ship and ship-to-land communications. A coast station (also: '' coast radio station ...

at Niton received a Mayday call from ''Pool Fisher''. Within minutes Niton passed the information to the

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, which immediately alerted the Yarmouth and

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lifeboats and scrambled

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helicopters from

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, and later from

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and

Culdrose Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose (RNAS Culdrose, also known as HMS ''Seahawk''; ICAO: EGDR) is a Royal Navy airbase near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall UK, and is one of the largest helicopter bases in Europe. Its main role is serv ...

. The search and rescue operation was carried out, in severe weather conditions, by three Royal Navy warships, including , six merchant vessels and two lifeboats, assisted by four helicopters. The only two survivors from ''Pool Fisher'', deckhands Donald Crane and Mark Fook, were both off-watch and asleep below when they were roused by the bosun and ordered on deck. By the time they arrived there the ship was listing heavily to port, and both were washed off the deck by heavy seas. They were finally rescued by helicopters of the Fleet Air Arm after spending over five hours holding on to

cargo hatch 120px, View of the hold of a container ship A ship's hold or cargo hold is a space for carrying cargo in the ship's compartment. Description Cargo in holds may be either packaged in crates, bales, etc., or unpackaged (bulk cargo). Access to h ...

boards from the sunken ship. Both were suffering from severe hypothermia and were taken to Haslar Naval Hospital for treatment. The wreck of ''Pool Fisher'' was later located in a position off St. Catherine's Point, bearing 232°. The court of inquiry concluded that her sinking was due to the failure of the No.1 hatch, which had only three hatch locking wires fitted, instead the eight required, and some of her securing cleats were defective. This allowed the rapid entry of a large quantity of water into the hold, first putting her down by the head and then causing her to list, and then capsize. Responsibility for this failure was placed on her Master, John Maclaren Stewart, and the Mate, Francis William Cooper, neither of whom survived.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pool Fisher 1959 ships Ships built in the Netherlands Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Shipwrecks in the English Channel Wreck diving sites in the United Kingdom 1979 disasters in the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1979