Cutter Blackthorn was lost on Monday January 28, 1980 when it collided with Tanker Capricorn near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay. This event lead to sweeping safety changes for the US Coast Guard and the Maritime World in general.
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*Views presented are my own and the appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), NTSB & any other entities’ visual information does not imply nor constitute their endorsement.
▶MORE BRICK IMMORTAR MARITIME?
The Sunshine Skyway Collapse: https://youtu.be/3htwtaJI2nM
The Loss of USS Thresher: https://youtu.be/g-uJ1do3yV8
The Loss of SS EL Faro: https://youtu.be/-BNDub3h2_I
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▶Timestamps:
00:00 Opening
1:02 What is a Buoy Tending Cutter?
2:42 Brief History of USCGC Blackthorn WLB-391
4:48 Brief History of Tanker Capricorn
6:55 Capricorn Crew Complement on the Day
7:47 Why Did the Blackthorn Visit Gulf Tampa Drydock?
8:39 Blackthorn Crew Complement on the Day
10:27 Tampa Bay, The Sunshine Skyway, Ship Channels & Ship Pilots
13:21 The Day of Collision – Monday January 28 1980
34:19 The Collision Creates Unexpected Chaos
42:23 Unexpected Rescue Arrives Quickly
49:28 SA Flores; Selfless Hero
50:43 NTSB & USCG Joint Investigation
57:48 NTSB Recommendations & Lessons Learned
1:08:41 Vessel Fates
1:09:40 We Salute You SA Flores
1:11:10 TAPS
1:12:13 Closing Thoughts
▶ A B O U T
Hey, I’m Sam! Full Time Parent & Creator. With a background in Workplace Safety Instruction, Logistics/Supply Chain Management & Industrial Robotics Programming/Engineering.
Cooperation, Compassion and Critical Thinking are vital!
Your Safety Matters.
#Maritime #Safety #YourSafetyMatters
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Projects this in-depth require much time and support and I wouldn't be able to make these, at this level of quality without such a wonderful, supportive audience. If you want to support Brick Immortar further, you can always come check out the community at https://www.patreon.com/BrickImmortar. Great group of like minded folks there!
YOUR Safety Matters.
-Sam
At several points in the video I could hear a bit of emotion break through your normal matter-of-fact narration. Your empathy for the people who lost their lives is obvious and both it and the personal notes/specific mentions of persons involved help ground the reality and significance of these events and connect us viewers (or at the very least me) emotionally.
I really appreciate your content since you demonstrate a deep understanding and care for what you cover, and the videos consistently show just how much loss of life or how many near-tradgedies have paved the way for modern regulations, which even still have their flaws and gaps that need to be patched. As always, our (and your) safety matters, thank you for reinforcing that.
Never would have considered lack of experience as a cause of tragedy on a coast giard vessel
I took a boating safety course as a teenager so I could waterski with friends on a small lake in Wisconsin.
Why did I assume every member of the Coast Guard would have that same information, until now?
So, this Cutter may as well been crewed by COAL MINERS!!! Inept bridge officers commanding a mostly "green" crew in a high risk waterway?!?! It makes you wonder how these guys got their positions and makes you wonder exactly _what were they thinking that night between launch and crash?!
So for 3 + months the crew was just "off" and were staying at hotels?
The level of basic competence lacking in the commanders of both The Capricorn but especially The Blackthorn is to me shocking.
Watching these Shipping accidents really made me head scratch about whistles. On cars they're called horns. I guess every field has it's special lingo.
Coastie here, sad day for us. Great job with the video as usual.
I’m actually a sailor on the now retired and privately owned USCGC Sundew. I know about the blackthorn and ave even dove on the Mesquite which is at the bottom of Lake Superior. It’s a tragic story. I live in Duluth where most of these ships were built. Our history is filled with wrecks.
This was excellent. I listen to your videos while I work. I like that you explain everything in such detail that I can listen and get a clear picture in my mind without having to watch. Thank you!!!!!
i LOVE your stuff!!! The best
CO should have been found guilty and been sentenced to hard labour, but only for 2 years. He bore a lot of responsibility for what happened. It was his duty and responsibility to ensure that he remained up to date with all that is required of a successful and responsible Commanding Officer of ANY vessels with a large crew compliment. Their lives all rested in his hands. He failed, they died. Simple as that. I am ex-navy, so I know just how important the chain of command is and no officer in a command position would ever allow a green ensign to take the con without full and complete supervision. Nobody becomes a good and capable sailor without training and a lot of training for sailors, regardless of rank, can only really happen on a serving vessels that is underway. Book learning is necessary of course, but you cannot accurately simulate the conditions onboard a vessel at sea, so naturally all of the book learning must be tested under real conditions but under total supervision of a senior and far more experienced officer. Navy or Coast Guard, the samu rules apply.
WELL DONE MY FRIEND!
I was onboard the USCGC Glacier wagb 4 in Antarctica when the Blackthorn sank. even though this happen long ago we never did a lifeboat drill. we had every other kind of drill but that. not even on the USCGC Salvia WLMB 400. Still loved my time in the US Coast Guard and would do it Again.
KAZAKHSTAN MENTIONED 🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅
…what is a watchstander's shack?! It looks like a bobhouse for ice fishing but is that what it is? Also, Vessel Traffic Service…is that like ATC for ships?
Alas, I knew her well. I was stationed at the😅 "Boat House" at CG Base Mobile in the early 70's and the Blackthorn was often tied up at the guest pier next to the small boats. The Blackthorn had a friendly cook/steward and he'd serve up late night suppers and snacks, turning up the heat in the crew's mess, a warm refuge for soaky smallboatmen. Sorta against regulations for him to do that, he'd just laugh and say we're all on the same team, right?
Right.
in times of stress may we all be the best we can be like SA FLORES. rest in peace to all lost souls
As a wise man once said, assumption is the mother of all fuck ups…
My favorite channel. The thorough documentation, research and narrating that goes into this is incredible. I’ve been checking the channel weekly for months now for a new upload. Can’t wait to watch. Thank you Brick Immortar
wake up babe new brick immortar dropped
This may still be an issue. Recently, a friend of mine was piloting a US research vessel out of port. A small firefighting vessel started heading across her intended path. They were called on the radio, the blasts were given, and they never acknowledged the much bigger ship, which managed not to hit them IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
Without a doubt this is 1 of the best channels on youtube.
I was on the Blackthorn about 1/2 way through it's refit at Gulf Tampa Drydock to deliver supplies. I also remember seeing it back at GTDD shortly after it was brought back up and towed in. The Blackthorn was towed near the place where it went down and made into a memorial. If you're ever headed south on I-75 out of St. Pete this rest area to see the memorial is well worth your time.
I rent a room from a former merchant marine at the nj shore. I tell him i listen to these stories and am captivated. The way you research is unbelievable in comparison w most things on the net. Thank you sir for doing such a great in depth job on each incident. Amazing work. And thank you for respecting all involved. Peace and God Bless. Prayers for those lost Coast Guardsmen – most just babies in life. ( i live near cape may where they train).
I can't believe that a LTCDR did not know how to call for a Pilot. He should go to jail for that alone.
I remember seeing the blackthorns captain shopping at the commissary at MacDill while all the. Hearings and investigations were going on, he look like a defeated person one thing I remember was a very young seamen with less they a year in the Coast Guard step up to the plate and help save a bunch of his fellow sailors at the cost of his own life
Beautifully told story #1. RIP.
Hey brick immortar do you think you will do anything on one of the ships in the great lakes like Erie or anything like that.
I dove that wreck back in the 90's was broken in half where they towed it to I wonder if it still there. any divers been there lately.
I'm no expert, but when I served in the Navy we never left port at night!
I was in Bootcamp when this happened. Shock was the first thing, after that recruits began to take things very serious. RIP crew.
astounding that a Coast Guard boat couldn't pass a basic Coast Guard inspection (lights, flotation devices, rescue materials, etc). Sad that so many seemingly meddlesome regulations are written in blood.
I remember an entire class on BLACKTHORN at Coast Guard boot camp. One of the lessons the instructor drilled into our heads was knowing your ship and her egress routes. My first assignment, an old 180 no less, I was taken to one of the lowest compartments on the ship, blindfolded, told to spin a around a few times, and then make my way to the weather deck. It was a struggle to say the least.
Been waiting for this next video to drop. By far one of my favorite channels of all time.
So the masthead light requirement was intentionally disobeyed so that many USCG vessels didn’t need a cheap small mast near the bow to give approaching vessels at night a far better gauge of its length? The irony of the primary ship safety organization in the US giving itself an exemption that directly led to its own personnel being killed through gross stupidity is a lesson the far-right greedy bastards who control our federal government will never grasp.
Just remember… This is a COAST GUARD SHIP. which means they have ALL WENT TO SCHOOL and TRAINED and are also the POLICE of the waterways that had this much ineptness.
This is the most detailed comprehensive report of this incident that I have ever seen. I was stationed on a Cutter in the early 80s and multiple copies of the NTSB report floated around on my ship for all to read. We were all encouraged to read it. The officers on my ship were very strict and this incident was one of the reasons why. Every Coast Guard officer I have spoken to about this incident views it as a tragedy but also an embarrassment. Semper Paratus!
Grandfathering of updates like the Capricorn's davits has never made sense to me. Also, why did Blackthorn have such crappy rafts?
How did three Officers be so ignorant? I only found that the commanding office was a USCG graduate..what do they teach there? FOUR years and thousands of dollars of education. How the hell did the USCG not only retain the CO But promoted to O6. You hear of the USN relieving a destroying CO for a hell of a lot less.
Brilliant video mate
Hands down the best and most detailed explanation of the Blackthorn incident. Thank you so much for making it. Her loss must be studied so it will never happen again.
After the Blackthorn incident crews were trained hard and often on collision and abandon ship drills. As a young MK3 on USCGC Bittersweet (WLB 389) in the early 1980's I experienced them first-hand. New engineers were also required to stand "port and starboard" watches (every other night) until they could get out the engine room within 60 seconds while blind-folded, on their hands and knees and not allowed to stand-up, after being spun-around and guided to a spot on the lowest part [of the engine room]. No one enjoyed the drills but we knew their importance so few complained. Those that did were told to "remember the Blackthorn." 180's were very solid boats but we often felt like a squirrel running across a highway when in busy channels.
Again, great video.
BrickImmortar, yet another compelling watch. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for you detailed account of this tragedy. I served 4 years in the USCG….2.5 aboard 327 Cutter CAMPBELL (built 1936) on International Weather Patrol (60,000 NM at sea in the N. Atlantic and Labrador Sea) with a 25 years of service Full Captain (4 striper) and 1.5 aboard the steam buoy tender OAK (built 1922) under a 35 year Mustang Lt. Cmdr (2.5 stripes). I can tell you my shipmates and I were well aware of our ship, our duties either on watch or in emergency situations under THESE Commanding Officers.. Indeed, CAMPBELL was involved in the Andrea Doria rescue in July 1956 and I was on duty on the bridge for 17 hours as a Quarterrmaster under "General Quarters!" It was only 1 of four rescues I was involved in, three on CAMPBELL and one on OAK during my time at sea. I am now 86 years old and shaking my head in sadness that in only about 20 years the competence of the officers had so degenerated to create such a tragedy. Definitely NOT My CG!
It's sad to see the very people we entrust with knowing and enforcing these rules, don't follow them, or even know them. (well "didn't"… this was some years ago.)
I mean no offense. But all the duck videos were getting old. it's cool that u are back to interpreting and sharing maritime disasters. It's ur "wheelhouse"
This was one of your greatest efforts…awesome.