THE ship Derbyshire foundered in 1980 with the loss of 44 lives off Okinawa.
The British Government decided, against normal practice, not to hold a formal inquiry.
Despite overwhelming evidence to show the proximate cause of the loss of the Derbyshire as being the built-in flaw at frame 65, the Government continued to deny the need for a formal inquiry.
It was finally allowed after sister ship Kowloon Bridge, already abandoned and in a state of collapse, ran aground on rocks off Stags Head, Ireland.
The Wreck Commissioner did not consider the evidence from the ship which initiated the very inquiry upon which he sat as worthy of consideration.
Only recently have the marine regulators started to address the problem of failing bulk carriers in general.