The Severn Bridge Disaster - 25th October 1960
The night the river burned.
"Arkendale H"
Built: Richards Ironworks, Lowestoft, 1937. Length: 132.7' Width: 22' Depth: 8.7' GRT: 229 Skipper: George Thompson Mate: Percy Simmonds (lost) Engineer: Jack Cooper 2nd Engineer: Robert Nibblett (lost) |
"Wastdale H"
Built: Sharpness Shipyard. 1951. Length: 131.7' Width: 21.3' Depth: 9.1' GRT: 233 Skipper: James Dew Mate: Jack Dudfield (lost) Engineer: Alex Bullock (lost) Deckhand: Malcolm Hart (lost) |
The Bridge
The Severn Bridge Railway Company commenced construction of the Severn Railway Bridge by the laying of a foundation stone on the Lydney side of the river in 1875. The engineer was G. W. Keeling and the iron and steelwork was supplied by Hamiltons Windsor Iron Works at their Garston foundry, Liverpool.
The bridge was 4,162, (1,269 m) long and stood 70’ (21 m) above the high water mark. On the Lydney side there was a 12 arch masonry approach viaduct. The river was crossed by 21 steel spans supported on cast iron piers. The piers were built up from 4’ length cast iron rings bolted together and then filled with concrete. Piers 2 to 13 consisted of pairs of 9’ diameter tubes below water level and 6’ diameter tubes above water level. Piers 14 to 21 were made up of 10’ diameter tubes below water level and 7’ diameter tubes above water level. Piers 14 to 18 were twin columns whilst piers 19 to 21 which carried the largest spans were each made up of 4 columns. The steel spans were of different lengths and consisted of 2 x 312’ spans, 5 x 174’ spans and 14 x 134’ spans. On the Sharpness side a 200’ span swing bridge crossed the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, followed by a short 2 arch masonry approach viaduct. These latter two structures were constructed to double track width to allow for future doubling of the line. Atop the swing bridge was a signal box which also housed the steam engines that turned the bridge.
The bridge opened for traffic in 1879 by which time the Severn Bridge Railway had amalgamated with the Severn & Wye Railway. The company was not a financial success, being hit particularly hard by the opening of the GWR’s Severn Tunnel in 1886. In 1894 the line was sold jointly to the Great Western and Midland Railways. The bridge was important to the local communities on either side of the river and also performed a useful role as a diversionary route when the Severn Tunnel was closed for maintenance. During the 1950s the Western Region of British Railways investigated the possibility of modernising the bridge to allow it to carry heavier locomotives, thus increasing it’s usefulness as a diversionary route. The contract to refurbish and strengthen the bridge was awarded to the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company and work commenced in 1960.
The bridge was 4,162, (1,269 m) long and stood 70’ (21 m) above the high water mark. On the Lydney side there was a 12 arch masonry approach viaduct. The river was crossed by 21 steel spans supported on cast iron piers. The piers were built up from 4’ length cast iron rings bolted together and then filled with concrete. Piers 2 to 13 consisted of pairs of 9’ diameter tubes below water level and 6’ diameter tubes above water level. Piers 14 to 21 were made up of 10’ diameter tubes below water level and 7’ diameter tubes above water level. Piers 14 to 18 were twin columns whilst piers 19 to 21 which carried the largest spans were each made up of 4 columns. The steel spans were of different lengths and consisted of 2 x 312’ spans, 5 x 174’ spans and 14 x 134’ spans. On the Sharpness side a 200’ span swing bridge crossed the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, followed by a short 2 arch masonry approach viaduct. These latter two structures were constructed to double track width to allow for future doubling of the line. Atop the swing bridge was a signal box which also housed the steam engines that turned the bridge.
The bridge opened for traffic in 1879 by which time the Severn Bridge Railway had amalgamated with the Severn & Wye Railway. The company was not a financial success, being hit particularly hard by the opening of the GWR’s Severn Tunnel in 1886. In 1894 the line was sold jointly to the Great Western and Midland Railways. The bridge was important to the local communities on either side of the river and also performed a useful role as a diversionary route when the Severn Tunnel was closed for maintenance. During the 1950s the Western Region of British Railways investigated the possibility of modernising the bridge to allow it to carry heavier locomotives, thus increasing it’s usefulness as a diversionary route. The contract to refurbish and strengthen the bridge was awarded to the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company and work commenced in 1960.
The Disaster
On the evening of 25th October 1960 a number of barges were making their way up river from Avonmouth to Sharpness. Amongst them were two vessels operated by John Harker Ltd. of Knottingley, Yorkshire. The WASTDALE H had been built locally at Sharpness Shipyard in 1951. She was a tanker barge and was carrying a load of petroleum. The ARKENDALE H had been built by Richards Ironworks of Lowestoft in 1937 as a dumb (unpowered) tanker barge. She had been converted to a motor barge in 1948 and was later lengthened. Her cargo was Britoleum black oil, a heavy oil which required her to be fitted with heating coils in her tanks to keep the oil liquid.
The barges hit thick fog near Berkeley Power Station and the strong incoming tide was running at 5 knots making it difficult to manoeuvre the vessels for their approach to the lock at Sharpness. Both barges were swept past the lock entrance and the found themselves by the old, disused dock entrance further upstream. The two barges came abreast and the skippers found it impossible to separate them. Whilst they struggled to break them apart they drifted yet further upstream until the port bow of the WASTDALE H hit pier 17 of the bridge. The bridge shook with the impact and the WASTDALE H turned onto her port side and began to sink. As pier 17 gave way under the pressure the two spans it supported fell onto the barges causing the WASTDALE H’s petroleum cargo to ignite and explode. The ARKENDALE H’s cargo of black oil was also ruptured and with the help of the petroleum it too ignited leaving the entire expanse of the river blazing. The two barges drifted on up river before grounding on the Ridge Sandbank. Skipper George Thompson of the ARKENDALE H managed to make it ashore. His engineer Jack Cooper also survived but not before he received a severe back injury sustained by an encounter with the still-rotating propeller of the sinking ARKENDALE H. Skipper James Dew of the WASTDALE H was the only other survivor. The other five crew members were missing.
The next morning the smouldering wrecks of the two barges were left high and dry on the sand with the WASTDALE H standing on her port side. On the following tide she settled back to en even keel. Attempts were made to pump out and search both vessels for the missing crew members but their inaccessible position made the job difficult. All five bodies were later found at various locations along the Severn. On 30th October 1960 the Army blew holes in the bow and stern of both barges to prevent them refloating. They remain there to this day, submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide.
On the night of the disaster the Fairfields workers engaged on the strengthening of the bridge decided to take an early meal break in order to listen to the Henry Cooper v Karl Muller boxing match on the wireless at Severn Bridge Station. Had they not done so the death toll would have been considerably worse as the span they were working on was one of the two that fell.
Within a month of the disaster the Western Region of British Railways had prepared an outline plan to repair the bridge. Pier 16 would be repaired and a new concrete pier would be constructed to replace pier 17. A single, welded mild steel span would then be placed across the top, supported in the middle by the new pier. The projected cost for this was £85,000.
It was found that pier 16 was significantly damaged and was leaning towards the Sharpness bank. It was therefore decided to erect a timber trestle beneath span 15-16 and the contract to do this was awarded to Peter Lind & Co. Ltd.
The bridge suffered further mishap on 17th February 1961 when the tanker barge BP EXPLORER capsized and struck pier 20 causing a further £12,740 worth of damage.
Peter Lind & Co. Ltd. hired the twin floating crane TWEEDLEDUM & TWEEDLEDEE to assist with the erection of the trestle. On the 14th April 1961 the TWEEDLEDUM & TWEEDLEDEE broke away from its moorings on a flood tide and drifted into the bridge damaging the dolphins on pier 20. The crane jib also struck the underside of the bridge. This time the damage was estimated at £6,000.
The barges hit thick fog near Berkeley Power Station and the strong incoming tide was running at 5 knots making it difficult to manoeuvre the vessels for their approach to the lock at Sharpness. Both barges were swept past the lock entrance and the found themselves by the old, disused dock entrance further upstream. The two barges came abreast and the skippers found it impossible to separate them. Whilst they struggled to break them apart they drifted yet further upstream until the port bow of the WASTDALE H hit pier 17 of the bridge. The bridge shook with the impact and the WASTDALE H turned onto her port side and began to sink. As pier 17 gave way under the pressure the two spans it supported fell onto the barges causing the WASTDALE H’s petroleum cargo to ignite and explode. The ARKENDALE H’s cargo of black oil was also ruptured and with the help of the petroleum it too ignited leaving the entire expanse of the river blazing. The two barges drifted on up river before grounding on the Ridge Sandbank. Skipper George Thompson of the ARKENDALE H managed to make it ashore. His engineer Jack Cooper also survived but not before he received a severe back injury sustained by an encounter with the still-rotating propeller of the sinking ARKENDALE H. Skipper James Dew of the WASTDALE H was the only other survivor. The other five crew members were missing.
The next morning the smouldering wrecks of the two barges were left high and dry on the sand with the WASTDALE H standing on her port side. On the following tide she settled back to en even keel. Attempts were made to pump out and search both vessels for the missing crew members but their inaccessible position made the job difficult. All five bodies were later found at various locations along the Severn. On 30th October 1960 the Army blew holes in the bow and stern of both barges to prevent them refloating. They remain there to this day, submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide.
On the night of the disaster the Fairfields workers engaged on the strengthening of the bridge decided to take an early meal break in order to listen to the Henry Cooper v Karl Muller boxing match on the wireless at Severn Bridge Station. Had they not done so the death toll would have been considerably worse as the span they were working on was one of the two that fell.
Within a month of the disaster the Western Region of British Railways had prepared an outline plan to repair the bridge. Pier 16 would be repaired and a new concrete pier would be constructed to replace pier 17. A single, welded mild steel span would then be placed across the top, supported in the middle by the new pier. The projected cost for this was £85,000.
It was found that pier 16 was significantly damaged and was leaning towards the Sharpness bank. It was therefore decided to erect a timber trestle beneath span 15-16 and the contract to do this was awarded to Peter Lind & Co. Ltd.
The bridge suffered further mishap on 17th February 1961 when the tanker barge BP EXPLORER capsized and struck pier 20 causing a further £12,740 worth of damage.
Peter Lind & Co. Ltd. hired the twin floating crane TWEEDLEDUM & TWEEDLEDEE to assist with the erection of the trestle. On the 14th April 1961 the TWEEDLEDUM & TWEEDLEDEE broke away from its moorings on a flood tide and drifted into the bridge damaging the dolphins on pier 20. The crane jib also struck the underside of the bridge. This time the damage was estimated at £6,000.
Demolition
By 1963 British Railways had decided not to pursue the repair of the bridge and were looking to dispose of the structure to the Central Electricity Generating Board who were interested in using it for a cable crossing. This deal fell through in 1964 leaving BR with no option but to find a way to demolish the bridge. Initially the Army were consulted with a view to their demolishing it as a military exercise. This fell through and in 1965 invitations to tender for the demolition contract were issued to twenty four firms. After viewing the bridge twenty of the firms withdrew their tenders. In the end the contract went to the Nordman Construction Co. of Gloucester, who had not been amongst the original twenty four invited to tender.
Early in 1967 Nordman announced that they intended to complete the job within five months. Their methodology involved hiring an enormous floating crane, the MAGNUS II from Germany. It would lift off the 20 smaller spans including the swing bridge and then the two 312’ spans would be dropped by winching over the piers. The large spans would then be lifted from the river bed on chains and cut into sections. MAGNUS II would then lift or winch over the remaining cast iron piers. MAGNUS II arrived on site on 22nd August 1967 and two days later the first spans were lifted off. The work proved to be more difficult and time-consuming than anticipated. The piers supporting the two 312’ spans proved difficult to topple and when the spans fell they disintegrated leaving much metal unrecovered on the river bed. Gale force winds lost another day’s work and when the hire period for MAGNUS II was up on 11th September she departed leaving three spans, the swing bridge and most of the cast iron piers still in situ. The masonry approach viaduct on the Lydney side was drilled and charged for demolition by high explosives by sub-contractor Swinnerton & Miller of Willenhall. Early on 10th March 1968 it was blown but when the dust cleared it became clear that six arches remained standing, now in a highly dangerous state with the pier bases badly shattered. They were redrilled and blown again a few days later. Even then one pier remained stubbornly standing and had to be winched over.
By this time the demolition scheme was falling badly behind schedule and relations between Nordman and British Railways soured. In addition the owners of MAGNUS II filed a writ against Nordman concerning non-payment of hire fees. The firm was taken into receivership in November 1968.
Swinnerton & Miller were given the task of dropping the remaining three spans by explosive and they then commenced work on removing the remaining piers and blowing up the stumps to clear the navigation channel. This work was carried out using the former Old Passage Ferry SEVERN KING. On 4th July 1969 SEVERN KING broke adrift and became impaled on the stump of pier 2 where she remained for some weeks before she could be refloated and towed to Sharpness for scrapping.
The final phase of the demolition was the removal of the swing bridge, let as a separate contract to Underwater Welders Ltd of Cardiff. Once the signal box and steam engines were dismantled the swing span was successively cut at each end, thus maintaining it’s balance as it was reduced in size. The contract also included the dropping of masonry pier 1 by high explosives. This was completed on 13th May 1970. Although their removal had featured in the demolition schedule drawn up by Nordman, the swing bridge tower and Sharpness approach viaduct were left standing and remain in place today.
Click on the first picture below to open the slide show and see the captions.
Early in 1967 Nordman announced that they intended to complete the job within five months. Their methodology involved hiring an enormous floating crane, the MAGNUS II from Germany. It would lift off the 20 smaller spans including the swing bridge and then the two 312’ spans would be dropped by winching over the piers. The large spans would then be lifted from the river bed on chains and cut into sections. MAGNUS II would then lift or winch over the remaining cast iron piers. MAGNUS II arrived on site on 22nd August 1967 and two days later the first spans were lifted off. The work proved to be more difficult and time-consuming than anticipated. The piers supporting the two 312’ spans proved difficult to topple and when the spans fell they disintegrated leaving much metal unrecovered on the river bed. Gale force winds lost another day’s work and when the hire period for MAGNUS II was up on 11th September she departed leaving three spans, the swing bridge and most of the cast iron piers still in situ. The masonry approach viaduct on the Lydney side was drilled and charged for demolition by high explosives by sub-contractor Swinnerton & Miller of Willenhall. Early on 10th March 1968 it was blown but when the dust cleared it became clear that six arches remained standing, now in a highly dangerous state with the pier bases badly shattered. They were redrilled and blown again a few days later. Even then one pier remained stubbornly standing and had to be winched over.
By this time the demolition scheme was falling badly behind schedule and relations between Nordman and British Railways soured. In addition the owners of MAGNUS II filed a writ against Nordman concerning non-payment of hire fees. The firm was taken into receivership in November 1968.
Swinnerton & Miller were given the task of dropping the remaining three spans by explosive and they then commenced work on removing the remaining piers and blowing up the stumps to clear the navigation channel. This work was carried out using the former Old Passage Ferry SEVERN KING. On 4th July 1969 SEVERN KING broke adrift and became impaled on the stump of pier 2 where she remained for some weeks before she could be refloated and towed to Sharpness for scrapping.
The final phase of the demolition was the removal of the swing bridge, let as a separate contract to Underwater Welders Ltd of Cardiff. Once the signal box and steam engines were dismantled the swing span was successively cut at each end, thus maintaining it’s balance as it was reduced in size. The contract also included the dropping of masonry pier 1 by high explosives. This was completed on 13th May 1970. Although their removal had featured in the demolition schedule drawn up by Nordman, the swing bridge tower and Sharpness approach viaduct were left standing and remain in place today.
Click on the first picture below to open the slide show and see the captions.