Tasman Bridge Disaster - 50 years ago today

                              Image taken from National Archive of Australia website

Having grown up in Hobart, Tasmania (now residing in Brisbane, Queensland), I felt compelled to share this historical event. When I was 12 years old, I was asleep in bed when my mother entered our bedroom, shouting that a ship had collided with the bridge, causing it to collapse. She instructed us to put on something warm as we going to see for ourselves. At that moment, I did not fully grasp the situation until I witnessed it with my own eyes.

The Tasman Bridge disaster occurred at 9:27 p.m. (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) on Sunday, the 5th of January 1975, in Hobart, the capital city of Australia's island state of Tasmania when a bulk carrier, the Lake Illawarra, traveling up the River Derwent, collided with several pylons of the Tasman Bridge, causing a large section of the bridge deck to collapse on the ship and into the river. Twelve people were killed, including seven crew members on board the Lake Illawarra and the five occupants of four cars that fell 45 meters (150 ft) after driving off the bridge. Hobart was cut off from the eastern suburbs, and the loss of the road connection had a major social impact. 

The bulk carrier Lake Illawarra, carrying 10,000 Tonnes (11,000 short tons; 22,000,000 lb) of zinc ore concentrate, was heading up the Derwent River to offload its cargo to EZ Industries' Risdon Zinc Works, upstream from Hobart and about 3 km (1.9 mi) from the bridge. The 1,025 m (3,363 ft) long main viaduct of the bridge was composed of a central main navigation span, two flanking secondary navigation spans, and nineteen approach spans. The ship was off course as it neared the bridge, partly due to the strong tidal current but also because of inattention by the ship's master, Captain Boleslaw Pelc. Initially approaching the bridge at eight knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph), Pelc slowed the ship to a 'safe' speed. Although Lake Illawarra was capable of passing through the bridge's central navigation span, Pelc attempted to pass through one of the eastern spans.

Image taken from National Archive of Australia website

Despite numerous course adjustments, Lake Illawarra remained unmanageable due to insufficient steerage way. In desperation Pelc ordered 'full speed astern', at which point all control was lost. The ship drifted towards the bridge midway between the central navigation span and the eastern shore, colliding with the pile capping of piers 18 and 19, bringing three unsupported spans and a 127-metre (417 ft) section of roadway crashing into the river and onto the ship's deck. Lake Illawarra listed to starboard and sank within minutes a short distance to the south, in 35 metres (115 ft) of water. Seven crew members were trapped and drowned. 

As the collision occurred on a Sunday evening, there was relatively little traffic on the bridge. While no cars were travelling between the 18th and 19th pylons when that section collapsed, four cars drove over the gap, killing five occupants. Two drivers managed to stop their vehicles at the edge, but not before their front wheels had dropped over the lip of the bridge deck. People got out of their cars and were on the bridge desperately trying to stop other cars from going over the edge, but the drivers just changed lanes and drove around them.

At the time, most of the schools, businesses, and hospitals were located in Hobart city, so the two cities were cut off, so a quick solution was needed. Although there was another bridge, it was a very long distance, taking 1 hour and 30 minutes to cover in 3 minutes when the Tasman Bridge was there. Until the bridge was rebuilt, ferries from Sydney and Melbourne connecting the two cities was operated.

The army quickly built a single lane (each way) temporary bridge, known as the ol' rattler to ease the 90-minute drive. This bridge was built between Risdon and Glenorchy. Today there is a permanent concrete bridge called the Bailey Bridge in its place.

TASMAN BRIDGE AS IT LOOKS TODAY