£7.99
This fascinating book details the tragic and mysterious loss of the cargo ship Flag Theofano, sunk 3 miles off the Isle of Wight on January 29th 1990 with the loss of all 19 crew. It was a major maritime incident of modern times within the Solent approaches to Portsmouth and Southampton. The ship capsized instantaneously within seconds after her cargo of bulk cement shifted in extreme weather conditions, happening so quickly that the crew had no time to send a distress call, grab lifejackets, or launch the ship’s lifeboats. No one was even aware of the ship sinking until the next day, when two bodies washed ashore and the alarm was raised. It seemed inconceivable that a ship 99 metres long with a gross tonnage of 2812 tons could sink in this way while entering the Solent. Only 3 more bodies were washed ashore over the following weeks, and 14 of the crew still remain entombed in the wreck to this day. It was not possible to salvage the sunken ship due to the hardening of the 3920 tons of bulk cement cargo, which made recovery of the wreck logistically difficult. As a result of this, and the lack of any surviving witnesses, the investigations into what actually caused the sinking had to rely solely on what limited evidence was available to the authorities at the time. Author Martin Woodward, an Isle of Wight diver with a lifetime of experience in the commercial diving and shipwreck industry, was involved in the subsequent investigative diving on the wreck in 1990 for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the vessel owners/insurers. He gives a detailed account in this book of all the evidence and clues found on and around the sunken vessel after the sinking, which later indicated that it was not just the stormy weather that sank the ship. Diving conditions were appalling at the time, and a lot of the work was carried out in almost nil visibility until the water started to clear and more could be seen and filmed.
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