Death at Fastnet

30 years on from the terrifying disaster

The 1979 Fastnet yacht race was the greatest disaster ever to hit the sport of sailing. Fifteen people died and 136 were rescued from 23 boats which were abandoned or sunk that August day. Thirty years on, veteran yachting journalist Bob Fisher introduces an exclusive excerpt from his book on the tragic events in which he describes what happened to the crew of Charioteer, one of the boats that took part.

No one who was in any way involved in the Fastnet Race of 1979, be they sailors who took part, members of the rescue organisations or those of us reporting the disaster, will ever forget the graphic details of the three days of “Hell on the Celtic Sea.” Much as we may collectively attempt to put the incidents behind us, they are indelibly stamped on our memories. On analysis, it was the overwhelming force of the seas, generated by two separate gales that produced gigantic waves, way out of proportion even to the wind speed, which caused the greatest problem. It was one to which even the statistics, frightening as they are, cannot do justice to the full horror of those August days thirty years ago. The memories still trouble me.

It was mid-morning on Thursday 16th August. The suite at one end of the first floor of the Duke of Cornwall Hotel, Plymouth was noisily crammed with journalists from all over the world. It was just fifty hours since the awful truth had first dawned on those ashore that the Fastnet Race had gone wrong, terribly wrong. As more information became available it was obvious that there was a full-scale disaster to report and journalists were augmented by reporters from radio and television together with all the necessary paraphernalia of their trade. By early evening of the first day we were aware that there were people dead; just how many was a matter of conjecture. [Eventually we learned] that more than a dozen had died, that the rescue figures were going to exceed a hundred and that there were many boats abandoned and some sunk.

The race which started on Saturday, 11th August 1979 was the twenty-eighth Fastnet Race; its origins and history [it began in 1925 and takes place every two years] holding more bearing on ocean racing that any other event.

Charioteer was owned and skippered by Dr John Coldrey and sailed with a seven man crew. On Monday afternoon Charioteer was reaching towards the Fastnet Rock under a single-reefed mainsail and number two genoa in force 7 winds from the south-west … Soon after the watch change it became apparent that there was too much sail up and the wind was increasing fast … the seas were enormous and broken but a fantastic sight.

Then Charioteer suffered a series of knockdowns. In the first one Keith [Brimacombe] was washed out of the cockpit while not attached by his life-line and he saved himself by grabbing the main boom. Jeremy [Heal], aided he says by his young officer training in the Royal Marines, slept for most of his off-watch without being disturbed. When he awoke, Rod [Newbolt-Young] and Aubrey [Denton] were getting dressed when another wave hit the boat and produced near knockdown which sent Aubrey, who was struggling with his seaboots, across the cabin where he struck his head and back. John took one look at him and sent him back down to his bunk as he appeared concussed.

During the remaining hours of darkness Charioteer was knocked down three more times. Those in the cockpit were washed or thrown to the leeward side of the boat. Jeremy was feeling badly sick by now; the battering in the cockpit was draining his reserves although not his morale. He says 'I was sick once during this time and lifted to such a state of euphoria by the ecstatic relief of vomiting out the salt water that Rod and I were once caught respectively yelling and singing with exhilaration at the top of our voices.'

Another yacht passed within fifty yards to windward. All that Charioteer's crew saw of her was her navigation lights, her storm jib and her instrument lights as she swept past at great speed. Both Rod and Francis [Williams] had been worried when they saw her navigation lights coming up from astern, believing her to be on a collision course with Charioteer; Francis went as far as to suggest putting the engine in gear to get out of her way.

The waves were by now mast height – at least the biggest ones were – about forty feet. The wind was way off the scale of the wind speed meter (it stops at 60 knots). Conditions were appalling but eventually dawn came bringing some comfort. Charioteer was sliding down the big waves like a Malibu surfboard. At 0605 the yacht was fifty miles from Fastnet, Jeremy was vomiting over the lee side (Rod had just checked his harness), Francis was on the tiller, and Rod was on the weather side just forward of the helmsman. It was then that Charioteer was overwhelmed. Rod describes it:

'At this time I noticed a huge wave building to windward. It seemed to remain motionless just drawing water from in front of it and getting bigger … it seemed sheer with a white top and it seemed taller than the others, taller than the mast-head … I thought it would flatten but it just got bigger and steeper and then it came. I shouted a warning … it was a tremendous impact. We, in the cockpit, were thrown headlong into the sea … everything went dark … I saw stars. I was being dragged underwater by my harness at a tremendous speed (I thought to the bottom) and then everything stopped and I was on the surface with the top of the mast in front of me. I thought at first that the boat had gone down and that I was the sole survivor but then I heard voices behind me and saw the boat upright, her mast snapped.'

John was hit on the back of the head and neck by the cooker which came adrift from its gimbals. He sustained a seven-inch gash to his head and was later found to have fractured a cervical vertebra.

The three crewmen in the bunks had been tipped out and thrown around badly … All four made to get out of the hatch. For John, who was first on deck, it was frightening. At first he could not see his three crewmates in the water and thought they had all been washed away. He turned into the cabin from the companionway and said, 'Oh, my God! They've gone.' Francis shouted from the water and only then did the skipper realise that they were relatively all right.

'Relatively' is the correct word. Charioteer had performed a 360 degree roll and with the mast broken in two places, there was rigging around the boat. Rod was caught up in it and he had received a massive blow on the face which had split his lip and broken three of his teeth. Aubrey and John had been able to get Francis and Jeremy back on board while Rod shouted for help. He was trapped by his harness in the rigging of the broken mast and he feared that he would be crushed to death if the boat rolled again.

The nearby French trawler, Massingy, saw [the flares that the crew set off] and headed to give assistance. On board Charioteer the crew prepared to be taken off. The life-raft was got ready as possible means of transport to the trawler and the crew all donned lifejackets … All seven were successfully transferred to the trawler leaving Charioteer to the mercy of the waves. Charioteer has not been found and [was] presumed to have sunk.

Bob Fisher's book, The Fastnet Disaster and After, is available from www.amazon.co.uk