MV Summit Venture
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MV Summit Venture was a Japanese-built bulk carrier, built in 1976, which collided with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1980, causing the partial collapse of the bridge, which killed 35 people.
The ship was repaired and returned to service and was subsequently resold, trading as Sailor, Sailor I, KS Harmony and Jianmao 9. It sank off the Vietnamese coast in November 2010 when the holds took in water.
Building and delivery
[edit]Summit Venture was a bulk carrier built in 1976 by Oshima Shipbuilding of Nagasaki, Japan, as Yard Number 10006.[1] It's length overall was 609 feet (186 m) long, breadth 85.5 feet (26.1 m), depth 50.9 feet (15.5 m) and draft 36.5 feet (11.1 m); the ship's gross tonnage was 19,735, net tonnage 13,948 and deadweight tonnage 33,912. Summit Venture was propelled by a 11,550 bhp (8,610 kW) diesel engine of Sulzer design, made in Japan by Sumitomo Heavy Industries and driving a single screw.[1][2]
Launched on May 18, 1976, the ship was completed on August 26 that year for Hercules Carriers Inc of Liberia, where it was also registered.[2][3]. Venture Shipping (Managers) Ltd of Hong Kong were the ship's operators.[1]
1980 Skyway Bridge incident
[edit]
Summit Venture was involved in a fatal collision with the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay, Florida in the morning of May 9, 1980. Inward bound in ballast for the Port of Tampa under compulsory pilotage, while negotiating a required turn in the narrow channel in stormy weather, with heavy rain and squalls, the radar failed during a squall. The freighter struck one of the piers on the southbound span of the bridge.[4] A 1,400 feet (430 m) section of the steel cantilever highway bridge collapsed, causing a Greyhound bus, a truck, and six other vehicles to fall 165 feet (50 m) into the bay, killing thirty-five people.[5]
That day the pilot of Summit Venture was John E. Lerro. He was cleared of wrongdoing by both a state grand jury and a Coast Guard investigation. Although Capt. Lerro resumed his shipping duties soon afterward, he was forced to retire months later by the onset of multiple sclerosis,[6] dying from complications caused by the disease on August 31, 2002, at the age of 59.[7][pages needed]
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.[8] 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.[5] He sued the company that owned the ship and settled for $175,000 in 1984.[9] He died in 1989 of bone cancer at the age of 65, always regretting being the sole survivor among those who fell.[10] Each year he drove to the bridge on the accident's anniversary and saluted those who did not survive.[5]
Return to service and loss
[edit]Summit Venture was repaired and continued service under the same name. It called at Tampa for the last time in September 1990, when it was inspected by the US Coast Guard. It was sold by its original owner Hercules Carriers from Monrovia, Liberia to Endeavor Shipping, a Greek company, in November 1993 being rechristened to Sailor I which mostly worked along the US West Coast. It was sold 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.[11]
On November 9, 2010, Jianmao 9 sank off the Vietnamese coast in 2010 after her holds flooded. All 27 crew members on board were rescued from liferafts by two container ships, 26 by NYK Aquarius and one by Kota Nelayan.[12][13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Register of Ships 1980-81 P-Z. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1980. p. 1060. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ^ a b Marine Accident Report: Ramming of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge by the Liberian Bulk Carrier Summit Venture, Tampa Bay, Florida, May 9, 1980 (PDF). pp. 14–17. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
- ^ "Summit Venture (7518915)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ^ Marine Accident Report: Ramming of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge by the Liberian Bulk Carrier Summit Venture, Tampa Bay, Florida, May 9, 1980 (PDF). pp. 40–42. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
- ^ a b c Guzzo, Paul (May 7, 2020). "What happened to those who made headlines after the Skyway bridge accident?". Tampa Bay Times (Digital). Times Publishing Company. Archived from the original on May 9, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
- ^ Heller, Jean (May 7, 2000). "Memories stay with man at command of the ship". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on August 19, 2000. Retrieved July 4, 2007.
- ^ DeYoung, Bill (2013). Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay's Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought it Down. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-4491-0.
- ^ "The Skyway Bridge tragedy at 40: The survivor". St. Pete Catalyst. May 8, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
- ^ "Suit In Bridge Fall Settlement". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 6, 1984. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
- ^ Heller, Jean (May 7, 2000). "The Day the Skyway Fell". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
- ^ Zucco, Tom (May 8, 2005). "A new name, but still at sea". Tampa Bay Times (Digital). Times Publishing Company. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
- ^ Dixon, Gary (November 12, 2010). "Bulker sinks off Vietnam". TradeWinds. London. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ^ Teo, S S (December 16, 2010). "Successful Rescue of a Chinese Seaman at Sea by Kota Nelayan". Singapore: Pacific International Lines. Archived from the original on February 8, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
Further reading
[edit]DeYoung, Bill (2013). Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay's Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought it Down. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-4491-0.
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