MSC NAPOLI

The 16 members of Beer Coastguard spent over 1070 hours on “duty” dealing the fallout from the incident and after getting called to the beach on 17 different occasions in 9 days it was decided to man the beach 24/7 with the help of Exmouth, Lyme and West Bay coastguard teams.

Saturday January 20th 2007  0905:- Beep Beep Beep Beep The duty IRT pagers go off, they ring the MRCC “ you know that fully loaded 900 foot 62000 tonne container ship that was a drift in the channel”  “yes” they reply very apprehensively, “Well, its going to be beached off Branscombe as it was feared the vessel would break up before getting round Portland Bill. That was a surprise to say the least, they respond and get to Beer Head still not entirely certain what to expect.

On Beer Head we watch the vessel being manoeuvred into the position where it will be grounded , some local fisherman are already up there, one of them  says “that’s about 16-18 fathom there, and god help us”. He has been fishing these waters for around 50 years, we take note.

We need to warn the rest of the team, we start to ring around the team partly to let them know this vessel is on their patch! And partly to warn them they could be called anytime and could be out for a long time if called, some come up to have a look straight away, but by afternoon I think all the team have been to have a look and discuss what could happen.

The Media seem to appear form nowhere we had been advised to refer any questions to the MCA Media personnel who were on route in convoy somewhere between Southampton and Beer.
Sky news, Channel 4, West Country TV, and the BBC were there within an hour, the rest soon followed, we fended off request for interviews, and were subjected to cameras in our face, which meant we had to be careful of what we said to each other, at one point a reporter asked to borrow a mobile phone as his battery went down, somebody agrees and lent him his mobile, he got it back 20 minutes later, he wont lend it again.

The crowd was crowing fast as news was broadcast to the nation, quite rightly the locals wanted to know why it was brought here, a question which was to be repeated on numerous occasions.

We stayed up at Beer head until it started getting dark and the crowds started to drift away and the risk of any injury to the public or media had gone.

We relocated to the joint operations control at Sidmouth, It had been agreed we would stand down at 2030 when the police changed watch, We were just about to stand down for the night when on the vhf….. .

“Portland Coastguard this is Abellie Liberte ( French tug) we have lost 35 containers over the side and the vesselis listing to starboard by 30 degrees…….”

The Police ask advice on the expected destination of the containers, that was easy
 with the tide and wind as they were it was obvious they would come ashore at Branscombe.
We head to Branscombe Blues and twos the Coastguard leading a convoy of police cars like something from Smokey and the bandit.
We get to Branscombe mouth to be meet by a sight I will never forget, 5 forty foot containers still joined together  had come ashore directly in front of us and many more were coming ashore to the East, some still floating by like juggernauts on the water and some semi-submerged.

Full team requested, we have to locate and identify each container so the MRCC can check against the ships manifesto to identify the contents.
Any container that had been breached, was noted along with the id number and  any contents. Not easy in a South-westerly  6-7 heavy rain and  working close to moving 40 foot containers, because once they had come ashore the swell was buffeting them and edging them along the shore.

There was a discussion with the teams and it was agreed to continue with utmost care.
We located and identified all the beached cargo, we know there were only 7 that had broken open the others were intact, and little did we know they would not stay that way for long.

All the teams re grouped at Branscombe Mouth around 0100 Sunday morning, we could do no more tonight or morning if you like, back to station  hang the gear up to dry we knew we were coming back in about 6 hours, home by 0157.

Where the hell have you been? Ah yes luv, it all started when …..

As many know when you have been on a long job and the adrenalin is pumping, sleep is almost impossible for an hour or so until your body and mind starts to slow down, but what will tomorrow hold?

Sunday 21 Jan 2007
All the coastguard teams in Lyme bay were tasked to search the shoreline and report any findings. our job was to retrace our steps from the previous night, this time get grid references for each container. and get any id numbers we had missed in the night. it had been identified that 3 of the missing containers were classed as  ‘dangerous cargo”  priority 1 was to find them.

The police took over the Station as a command and RV point, we needed somebody to remain with them as liaison between us and the police, and I know just the man.
Any Coastguard will know that in a situation like this with so many resources working the same incident it makes it very difficult to communicate over the radio,  We could pass all the info to the team member at the Station, he was in direct contact with the police and ops room via fax and telephone. Using his own initiative a plan of the beached containers, their numbers, contents and grid references was compiled and faxed to the ops room, everything was logged at the Station and by the guys in the vehicle so everything could later be double-checked, this made the days work so much easier for the team and the MRCC. ( He was award a letter on Vellum presented by the Chief Coastguard many months later, for his excellent work that day). We achieved priority 1 and located the 3 containers, Devon fire and rescue dealt with. Any  threat to the public and removed 3 small canisters.

A senior Coastguard officer was on the beach around 1910 and requested our attendance back on the beach, we had only left there 2 hours earlier, we got to within 2 miles of the beach and that was it total grid lock, everybody was trying to get to the beach and every road was jammed, we met the police officer in charge out on the main road, a decision was made to block all access into the village and then cars could leave and gradually it would clear.

We started to set up road blocks, the police officers were few in numbers and need our help, more police were on the way.
If people are trying to get somewhere and you tell them they cannot , they tend to get irate, 2 team members were threatened and I have first hand experience of a vehicle pushing against my leg trying to get past, it was the first signs of aggression we had seen but it would not be the last before dawn broke, 2 team members had to dive out of the way when a car drove at one road block, the Exmouth ,Lyme and West bay teams were tasked to help.

A night where some of the team were verbally and on one occasion physically abused by members of the public who were not local and were going to get to the beach no matter what to loot what ever they could,
Unfortunately you could not tell local from looter, and I apologise to those locals we prevented from getting to their homes, but the situation need drastic measures and eventually it started to work, the police took over on the road blocks and we eventually got to the beach at 0015, nearly 5 hours after setting off and its only 4 miles from the station.

Fires were burning wherever you looked large gangs were methodically looting container after container, items were removed from containers and thrown onto the fires to keep people warm, it would have been a futile effort to try and control even a section of the crowd and probable putting our selves at risk.
Other emergency services were advised not to respond to the beach, we could see why and after consultation with the police and against our wishes, we returned home leaving the beach and surrounding area to the throng of thieves.

It called for an early start the next day with Exmouth and Lyme Regis coastguard teams joining Beer in an attempt to clear the beach, but the dawn broke with neither, the police or ourselves able to get into Branscombe, we left the night before with the traffic situation under control, but now it was chaos again, so again it was traffic duty to try and alleviate the situation. It was going to take time.

We had to divert after a call to go and rescue a dog that had fallen over the cliff at Seaton, this was achieved with the help of a member of the public.
Eventually we made it onto the beach but had to wait until the next morning when reinforced with a large number of police and with the security firm fencing off Branscombe beach the task of asking people to leave could begin.
But before the morning came we had to deal with an unidentified drum washed up on Jacobs’s ladder and later that night a search for 2 missing men between Branscombe and Weston who were eventually located in woods above the church. Just what you need.

After a joint operation involving  35 Coastguards and around 50 police The beach was clear of people the next morning the last few trying to walk off the beach with a BMW gear box, I think they realised it would be better to leave it on the beach when faced by 80 + people determined to clear the beach of  “visitors”.
3 of the beached containers had been set alight and again Devon fire and rescue, were called to the beach to deal.

The beach was clear the salvage team and 2 security firms were in place 24/7, we also stayed around the clock to help and advise the salvage and security teams. 
During these days that merged into each other we assisted in the search and recovery of oiled sea birds on local beaches, a dog over the cliff, a sheep stuck on the cliff, 4 missing people, an injured walker and a medical evacuation by Helicopter amongst other things.

In the early hours of one morning a small group of men were spotted trying to get to the beach, the salvage team persuade them to rethink their plans. We remained on the beach night and day for 5 more days with the help of
Exmouth, Lyme and West Bay coastguard teams, assisting the police and security firms to maintain the security on the beach and allow the clear up to begin.

There were times when we didn’t even know what day of the week it was, it was an experience that will never be forgotten and not one that we want to experience again.
It took a huge effort by many organisations and individual people to restore some sanity to Branscombe.
Everybody saw the pictures on TV or read about it in the papers, but few will know about the work of the Coastguard Rescue officers over this period, this was just a part of the MSC Napoli story, some things cannot be written here but there is more to come.

This has been written to highlight the efforts by the Coastguard teams in Lyme bay and in particular the Beer team.
 I cannot let this opportunity go without thanking, all the Coastguard personnel who helped in anyway, along with their wives, partners and families for their support and  all the employers who allowed their staff the time off to help out, an extremely challenging job done with the utmost professionalism by a team of volunteers, a job very well done.

The Beer team were award a Chief Coastguard commendation and a Devon and Cornwall police commendation for their efforts, Exmouth coastguard team were awarded a Chief Coastguard commendation for their part in the incident..
This is an accurate account of the events seen through my eyes and does not represent the view of H M Coastguard.

The Napoli saga is not yet over. Although all the local beaches are back to normal, and thoroughly clean, the last remaining part of the Hull is due for complete disposal by Sep 2009.