Deadly Dover Strait sea crashes 55 years ago changed shipping

A series of disasters in the English Channel which claimed 50 lives in 1971 helped bring about safety measures that are still used today, a former coastguard has said.

The incidents unfolded in the Dover Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, 55 years ago. Guidance existed for vessels travelling through the strait, but compliance was not compulsory at that point.

Retired coastguard Pete Legg told Secret Kent: “There was a traffic separation scheme at that time, but it was not mandatory.”

He described the scale of the disaster as “absolutely unbelievable”. He said it could not be allowed to happen again.

Legg said the chain of events began when the Panamanian tanker Texaco Caribbean collided with the Peruvian freighter Paracas in thick fog on 11 January 1971.

He said the explosion would have been heard from Sandwich all the way to Dungeness.

The tanker exploded, split in two and sank, and eight sailors died.

A major rescue operation followed, with lifeboat crews from Dover and Dungeness saving more than 20 people.