Royston Grange Collision
The Royston Grange was a fine ship on which I had the pleasure to serve as a Deck Apprentice in the early 1960’s, As I emigrated to Canada in 1970 to work as a Hydrographic Surveyor, I was until a while ago oblivious to her fate. Searching the internet I have found that a lot of people have expressed a desire to know more about the collision, and I have managed to glean the following from several reports. I hope it is reasonably accurate, but I cannot confirm all the facts as they are in some cases only hearsay. However, the main facts include professional reports of the time. The ROYSTON GRANGE was constructed by Hawthorne, Leslie & Co in Hepburn in 1958. At dawn on the 11 of May of 1972- at approximately 05:20 hours around kilometer 161.500 of the Indian Channel , between the pairs of buoys 15 and 16 a very serious collision occured between the s/s Royston Grange of British flag ( Houlder Brothers ) that had departed Buenos Aires and the tanker Tien Chee of Liberian flag that entered the channel destined for Silver. The collision, caused by low visibility and the narrowness of the channel in which both ships sailed, resulted in the death of all the crew and the passengers of the English ship and 8 members of the crew of the chino/liberiano oil tanker (at that time it was said that the Royston Grange, dispatched by the Argentina Prefecture, was loaded with P15, white phosphorus in its bow, a noncMetal whose point of fusion is 44.2 C°). Phosphorus in its pure form is white, and is the most dangerous form of such substance since it reacts with the oxygen very quickly. The Tien Chee, of 26,400 tons displacement, had the following dimensions: length 177 meters, beam 21.50 and drew 9.15 meters. The Royston Grange, of 18,000 tons of displacement, had dimensions of 149 meters length, 20 metres beam and drew 7.30 meters. The total crew, relatives, and passengers of the English ship were killed (a total of 75 people), also 8 crewmembers of the oil tanker. The reasons were never fully clarified; but it was speculated that wind drift by the ROYSTON GRANGE and the shallow bottom of the channel caused the two vessels to come together. The result of this “ connection” was to create sparks which then ignited the tanks of TIEN CHEE. After the accident, the TIEN CHEE was towed touching bottom into the so called “Common Zone”, whereas the ROYSTON GRANGE was taken to Montevideo and later towed to Spain for scrapping. ( The Dannebrog Fleet 1883-1993), a book which has a photo of the TIEN CHEE, offers a detailed description of the incident, and puts forward the theory that an explosive gas cloud which emanated from the TIEN CHEE might well have enveloped the English ship while it drifted and was then ignited from the sparks, thus creating a sudden devastating inferno. It indicates that both ships were passing by when the ROYSTON GRANGE fell suddenly to port. The force of the shock was so great that the English ship, besides hitting the TIEN CHEE had the effect of gashing open the lateral tank 7 of the Liberian ship, and continued on puncturing its tanks 8, 9 and 10 as the vessels scraped past each other. According to reports from rescue craft, the cause seemed to be that the Royston Grange had bounced against the Liberian ship in region of its engine room, bridge and stern. In those zones the Tien Chee.showed fire damage I have also gathered that it was THIS INCIDENT that took Argentina near to war with Uruguay. The problem was the intervention of Uruguayan Navy with the Royston Grange as it drifted and the presence of the patrol crafts King and Murature that had orders to shoot if the ship was not given up. This was the leading fact which brought about urgent negotiations which eventually resulted in the Treaty of the River of the Silver and its Marine Front, Montevideo, ( 19 of November 1973 ). It was reported that the butter cargo carried by the ROYSTON GRANGE was observed at the heart of a storage warehouse after the collision and was apparently congealed but lay intact in approx blocks 30 x 50 cms. However the funnel of the ship and most of the upper works was as if it had left the shipyard, without finishing. All glass items were fused, the brasswork had fused and the paintwork was burned and vaporized, and seemed almost burnt clean as if it were oxidized plate. All in all a quite horrific story.
This story is particularly chilling to me as I remember well as a senior apprentice on the Royston Grange, being on the wheel coming into B.A. down the same channel. It was quite an honour for me to be allowed to do this by the Captain. All went well , the Argentine pilot was taken on board, and I carefully followed his instructions. It soon became clear however that the depth of the channel was minimal and had a very strong effect on the steering, pulling the vessel unexpectedly to one side or the other. The Captain got edgy and started to countermand the pilots orders. All became confused and I was ordered to hand over control to the Captain himself.
The Captain had the good grace to apologise to me afterwards, but indicated that he was very much in fear of the vessel going aground. Thus, I can well believe how the ship acted prior to the collision.
I end this by offering my deepest sympathy to anyone who had family aboard. I was sent a crew list today, and whilst there are no ranks mentioned, I know that some of those who perished were known to me.
