Loss of the Ship

9. APROACH TO THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE

To understand what happened next please refer to the chart below.

It was approximately 9.45 am. The ship was now just ahead of the point marked 5c and barely making progress against a growing stream. Captain King observed "We were caught in the worst part of the channel with nowhere to go"^[7].

From Swelly Rock "the prudent navigation demands that the ship should haul to the northward in order to get on an offing of the Platters before making for the centre of the suspension bridge"^[4] i.e. she should follow the route of the black line on the chart. However that would have kept her in the middle of the strengthening stream. The point marked 7c shows that where the main course of the stream moves away from the Anglesey shore there an area of relatively quieter water, marked "Relatively Slack Area" on the chart.

Pilot Jones junior on the forward tug realised that if they headed off towards the Angelsey shore - through point 6c, towards the "Relatively Slack Area" they would avoid the worst of the current and at least be able to make some forward progress.

He took the initiative and guided them forward into this (relatively) slower moving water^[2]. On the Suspension Bridge "observers noted what they remarked to be a sheer to port (the ship's left)"^[4]. The Inquiry thought this was a natural aligning for the Suspension Bridge, in reality it was Jones junior taking the initiative. They continued making very slow progress towards point 7c. By 10am they were abreast the Platters and really could go no further in the calmer water. Very soon they would have to pull out into the main stream to get back into the channel under the Suspension Bridge.

The pilots knew that if they headed off towards the Angelsey shore - through point 6c, towards the "Relatively Slack Area" they would avoid the worst of the stream and at least be able to make some forward progress. On the Suspension Bridge "observers noted what they remarked to be a sheer to port (the ship's left)"^[4]. The Inquiry thought this was a natural aligning for the Suspension Bridge, in reality it was a deliberate deviation. They continued making very slow progress towards point 7c. By 10am they were abreast the Platters and really could go no further in the quieter water.

		Slightly ahead of them (at point 7c, broadly the area circled as Relatively Slack Water) between Carreg Halen and the Suspension Bridge there is a deep pool with depths ranging from 25 feet to 48 feet at low water. The stream eddies around it but it is outside its main strength and in a bit of a counter current. The pilots thought they could place the ship into this pool and hold her there for 4 hours until the strength of the stream had abated. The ship was in extremis and had nowhere else to go. This was a brilliantly inspirational emergency manoeuvre which might well have succeeded. Some skeptics doubt if this manoeuvre ever occurred, but the photo on the left clearly shows the ship in the pool close to the Anglesey shore.
		It is a cliché to say that command is a lonely place, but at that moment Captain Hewitt must have known just how lonely it was. It was in the character of the man that he did not flinch from difficult decisions. There was no guarantee this diversion would work, meanwhile conditions were deteriorating by the minute. He had to choose between remaining where they were or going forward. He decided the ship had to get out of danger, and with the Suspension Bridge tantalisingly close her safest option was to press ahead. Shortly before 9.50 am he gave the order, and the tugs eased Conway back out into the ever-increasing turbulent stream i.e. to the left in the photos. She was barely a few hundred yards short of the Suspension Bridge.

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