A Special Timeline Feature
Eye-witness accounts from the late:
Alex Bulloch MBE, Ave Quin, Len Danson and Trevor McVicker
Photographs from the late:
Ave (Stretch) Quin, B.C. Morse Jr., Alex Bulloch, MBE
and Len Danson.
Yokohama Accident Index
This page…
Drama at Yokohama
Yokohama was always a very popular port of call for both passengers and crew. It would also be a popular topic of conversation, both in the anticipation of our arrival weeks before, and certainly for weeks after. Considering the history of not that many years earlier, the hospitality of the Japanese could not be faulted.
The “services” available ashore were legend. In later years, as the Japanese began to produce some of the most advanced electronic and photographic equipment available in the World, this would be the port where you'd stock up on things to impress family and friends back home.
The Caronia's first visit to Yokohama had been in 1954 and it was a regular port of call on Great World Cruises from then on, with stays from 3 to 5 nights being a feature. Even in later years it was often surprising to see how many people would turn up to see a Caronia departure from a foreign port and Yokohama was no exception.
Departure time was usually set for 4pm and people would start to gather on the flat roof of the quayside buildings from about 2pm. It was on Caronia's departure on her fifth visit to Yokohama when a set-piece sailing took a very dramatic turn.
Photo: Peter Stevens
Although it was April and Springtime in Japan, it wasn't quite yet shirt-sleeve weather. Alex Bulloch, 3rd Baker aboard Caronia for the 1957 and 1958 World Cruises takes up the story…
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Alex writes…
I considered it a pleasure and a privilege to be a member of the crew of that beautiful ship.
She was gazed upon with wonder by everyone, wherever we called. About 11 April 1958 we steamed
into Yokohama Harbour, Japan and had a most enjoyable visit there.
On 14 April we were due to leave for the crossing to Honolulu. It was very windy and there was a choppy sea when we left Yokohama at about 4pm. Our departure was accompanied by the usual fireworks and streamers, and a US Army band was playing stirring American music on the dock for the mostly American complement of passengers we had on board, around 500 of them. With a very strong wind blowing, two tugs took hold of the ship at the forward end to pull her clear of her moorings.
I was on the forward deck with many others, including Pete Brown from Bootle, also a baker on the ship. We were now headed for the breakwaters sited almost a mile away from the dock, each side of which was protected by cast-iron lighthouses. We were about 1,000 meters away from the breakwater when I noticed a large American tank landing craft coming toward the harbour entrance, from the sea, heading in toward the US Naval Base on our port side.
It soon became clear that the landing craft wasn't going to make way for us, it just kept on coming, soon reaching the harbour entrance. I noticed that Caronia had moved a bit to her starboard. I was becoming a little concerned as it seemed that we were headed off course. I remarked to Pete “I hope we don't hit the breakwater.” He replied “Don't worry, I've been out of here a couple of times already, no problem!”
The last moments of the lighthouse. Seen from over Caronia's bow, this antique structure is about to be pulled back and toppled into the water as the Green Goddess comes to a grinding halt on the breakwater.
Photo: Courtesy of Ave Quin
At about 500 meters from the breakwater, I looked back to the wheelhouse and saw an officer pulling the telegraph, obviously to try and stop our forward momentum. However, Caronia didn't stop! She went onward, her bow aimed at the breakwater and its lighthouse. Three Japanese lighthouse keepers, obviously not imbued with Kamikaze spirit, were down the stairs like a shot and seen running along the top of the breakwater as fast as their legs could carry them.
There was a resounding crash! The vessel shook and came to rest with her bow embedded on the breakwater. A certain panic ensued, as emergency stations were called. I went to my cabin for my life-jacket but someone had borrowed it before me.”
The extent of the damage to Caronia's stem above the waterline is clearly evident as 35 feet of bow above and below the waterline is torn and bent toward the port side. Here a diver is about to investigate the underwater damage.
[Photo: Courtesy of Len Danson]
Having spoken to Ave Quin, Alex Bulloch and Len Danson at length about this accident, it's quite clear that it was very scary. It appears that there was a pattern to several of the accidents involving the Caronia. Often, the main factor would be wind direction and its effect on her huge funnel, especially if forward momentum was eased back.
As Alex has described, with another vessel entering the port area, the power would have had to be eased. With a reduced thrust from the propellers, the power of a strong wind could easily take over, making Caronia's funnel act like an unwanted sail. This is probably why she suddenly swung round to starboard.
This wasn't the only factor. Under normal circumstances the tugs would have escorted the ship all the way through the breakwater. However, on this occasion the three tugs at the rear, which, if they had stayed with the ship, could have prevented her swinging off course, were dispensed with fairly soon after leaving the quayside. Apparently, there was talk that people on the bridge were not happy about this.
Photo: Courtesy of Len Danson
In a conversation with Len Danson an AB on board, another factor to be brought into the equation was that some very quick thinking was needed, where continuing to attempt to avoid the collision could have far more serious consequences.
When it was clear that a collision was unavoidable, the decision was made to keep course and deliberately hit the breakwater head-on. The alternative being the ripping out of the starboard side, which almost certainly would have meant that the Caronia would sink, and probably very quickly!
Needless to say, there's a chill that runs up and down my spine as I try to imagine the deafening sound of steel crunching against the stone and concrete of the breakwater. As the picture above shows, the lighthouse is still in-situ, and as pictures on the next page show, its collapse doesn't occur until Caronia slips back off the breakwater, dragging and toppling the building with her anchor as she goes.