Derbyshire report

The master and crew of bulk oil carrier Derbyshire , which sank in 1980 with the loss of 44 lives, have finally been cleared of bad seamanship. This was through the publication of the report by Mr Justice Colman, which rejected the view of the assessors that the crew had left hatch covers open and attributed the loss to a number of factors among which inadequate hatch covers that were unable to stand up to typhoon conditions were significant.