On This Day: Twenty sailors die after two boats collide in English Channel

NOVEMBER 19, 1953: Twenty sailors died after two boats collided in the English Channel in one of the worst shipping accidents in the world’s busiest seaway.

Only five seamen on board the Italian cargo steamer Vittoria Claudia survived it sinking after being hit by French motor vessel Perou, whose crew were unharmed.

A British Pathé newsreel showed two of the survivors in hospital in Folk stone, Kent and filmed the ship’s bridge – the only recovered part - being towed to shore.

One of the rescued Italians, Second Officer Stolfa, said those who drowned “had not the slightest chance” since they were below deck when the fast-sinking ship was hit.

“We were doing six knots,” he told the BBC as he described how the accident happened two and a half miles from Dungeness in the busy Straits of Dover. 

“I saw a big ship coming in our direction at about 15 knots. It seemed that unless she altered course suddenly we must be struck.

“I sounded the ship's siren, but it was not until the last moment that the French ship swerved and she struck us in the stern.

“I was flung down and by the time I had picked myself up I could see that our ship was doomed.

“We had no time to launch boats. Those men below deck had not the slightest chance.”

The ore-laden Vittoria Claudia – which was en route from Burgas in Bulgaria to Hamburg in then West Germany – sank within five minutes of being hit at 4am.

The Italians didn’t even have time to send an SOS call, so the alarm was raised by the crew of the Perou, which was sailing from Antwerp in Belgium to Orleans in France.

They got in touch with the French coastguard,who contacted their counterparts on the English side of the Channel.

RNLI lifeboats were launched from Dungeness,Dover and Hastings.

The coxswain of the Dungeness boat revealed: “We came across three bodies in the water which we got aboard and then searched around for other survivors.

But, despite a calm sea and clear night sky, the volunteer rescuers were handicapped by dangerous wreckage strewn across the water.

The coxswain added: “We had to go very slow. We searched around till daylight, then the planes came out and they assisted us all they could.”

Aircraft from an American air sea rescue base in Manston also assisted with the search.

The British pilot cutter Pelorus eventually rescued the five survivors, who had been gripping on to the twisted remains of their 48-year-old ship for two hours.

Six bodies were also discovered, although the majority of the victims are thought to have been trapped in the hull, which sank to the bottom of the Channel.

The wreck of the Vittoria Claudia still lies about 86ft below the surface and is occasionally visited by divers.

In the aftermath of the disaster, British and French maritime chiefs tried to make the world’s busiest shipping lane safer.

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A two-way traffic lane system was introduced in1977 in a bid to reduce collisions in the seaway, which is now used by at least400 vessels a day.

But it failed to wipe out crashes altogether.

In 2003, two tankers struck the Norwegian ship Tricolour – a freightliner carrying thousands of cars that had sunk in shallow water off the Kent coast.

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It was hit despite numerous radio warning signals by the French navy, buoys surrounding the stricken vessels and several flashing beacons on its hull.

So, that year a new automated tracking system was introduced that provides exact information on the location of all ships passing through the Straits.

But it failed to stop a Maltese gas tanker and a Dutch cargo ship colliding during heavy fog in March last year - and only narrowly avoiding serious damage.