The Loss of the Brig Maria Assumpta by CDR Morin Scott he wreck of the brig Maria Assumpta on 30 May 1995, with the loss of three lives and the subsequent trial and imprisonment of her captain and owner, Mark Litchfield, will have special interest for American readers when it is pointed out that Litchfield was a partownerof Marques, which sank with a loss of 19 lives in the Tall Ships Race from Bermuda to the US in 1984. The legal wrangle that followed the Marques disaster occasioned a serious setback to the progress of sai l training in the US and resulted in a considerable degree of hassle for European sail training ship operators for some years. Litchfield was not sai ling in command of Marques when she sank, but was criticized for using the influence of a friendly MP to obtain a load-line exemption certificate which had been finally issued on a report by Litchfield 's own surveyor rather than a Government surveyor. Her level of stab ility was , in
T
fact, quoted in court as being " insufficient to resist a severe squall ," and she was judged to be unseaworthy in " noncoastal waters." No blame was laid at anyone's door, and Litchfield continued to sail without sanction. Litchfield does not hold the Nautical Institute Master in Square Rig Certificate, nor is he a member of the International Sail Training Ships Captains' Association. The certificate has since become a legal requirement for British captains of sail training ships but was not required at the time of the disaster. In the sail training world doubts had often been ex pressed over the safety and seaworthiness of the Maria Ass ump ta , a Spanish cargo vessel built in 1858 , and it was only days before her sinking that she obtained the necessary certificates to enabl e her to operate as a sail training ship . She still had not complied, however, with a number of requirements for
CHART BY THE AUT HOR
Track Chart Showing Course Change of Brig Maria Assumpta 30 May 1995
Hartland Point
Higher
+--- Sharpnose .,____Lower Sharpnose
~Cambeak
Port Isaac Bay
SEA HISTORY 85, SUMMER 1998
the certificates. Therefore, she was on a short delivery trip from her refit port to Padstow where she was to embark her first trainee crew. Obviously, had such a crew been on board, the loss of life would almost certainly have been much higher and the res ultant public outcry much greater. Her crew of 14 for the voyage was composed largely of keen amateurs and, of these , three were lost. They were: John Shannon, aged 30, who was the ship ' s second engineer; Anne Taylor, a 51-year-old widow, who was the cook; and Emily Macfarlane, aged 19, who was described as the assistant bosun. The track chart shows the easy and safe course the ship could have taken across the bay on an easy narrow reach and also the course chosen by the captain to go into the bay to admire the view of Tintagel Castl e and then sai l very close hauled and close to shore. He even told the investi gati ng police, " it is a nice coast and I thought everybody would like to look at it," and that " it would be a nice sight for people on the shore. " As is fairly common in di sasters , this one was the result of a number of errors of judgement by the man respons iblethe captain . Without doubt, the diversion to leeward to look atTi ntagel Castle and the continuation close to the shore started a chain of navi gational errors. In court it was revealed that he seldom fixed the position of the ship by taking crossbearings after passing Hartland Point, and the ship carried no electronic positioning equipment, wh ich, if used correctly, would have demonstrated that he was "standing into danger. " After go ing in to see Tintagel Castle, he then had to sa il very close hauled with a contrary tide, making the rounding of Rumps Point a ri sky maneuver. He started the engi ne at 3:57 and it fa il ed at4:06. He then should have tacked to get well to seaward or borne away into Port Quinn Bay. Instead he employed hi s meager crew in setting the main cou rse while he sai led on in an attempt to sq ueeze past Rumps Point and its offlying rocks-an extreme ly risky maneuver that ended fatally. In court before Judge Butterfield, the prosecution li sted the numerous errors made by Litchfield as follows: I . He did not use the best chart avail able and never really planned the voyage with appropriate fixed positions. 2. The dogleg towards Tintagel Castle and the overshoot on this course con49