American reacts to The Tasman Bridge disaster
Vložit
- čas přidán 15. 05. 2024
- Thanks for watching me, a humble American, react to The Tasman Bridge disaster
Thanks for subscribing for more Australian reactions every weekday!
Original video: • Motorists Drive Off Co...
Got a video request? Fill this here form out:
forms.gle/i1Vuc4FcmvqJdq83A
🤓Ways to support the channel!🤓
↬ purchase one of my Aussie-themed T-shirts: ryanwas.com - Zábava
Ive seen that green Monaro on display at the motoring museum at Launceston, Tasmania. Still owned by the family and on loan to the museum.
I was doing my honours degree at uni of tasmania when the bridge went down. I crossed the bridge about 10 minutes before it was hit and I saw the Lake Illiwara approaching. The girl that was in the car that was teetering on the edge was recovering at a mates place for months after the event. The mess left behind was EPIC.
I drove over the bridge earlier on that night on the way to the Drive-ins and at the interval an announcement said “If you live on the Eastern shore you can’t go back because the bridge has been knocked down by a boat.” You can imagine the response.
wow
It was such a shock to everyone, wasn't it?
…AND …. If you look into that bridge collapse even closer you will find out that car not only survived that collapse the guy still owns that car today !!!!! …
Didn’t know that. Legend.
that's amazing. I guess he's happy with the brakes and weight distribution of it!!
The car is a museum in Launceston, Tasmania @@ryanreaction
Yes, I met the guy who owned the green Monaro car when at the Trafalgar Holden museum... What a story. He still owns the green Monaro.
Aussies cars were built tough!
This was not a great decade for bridges in Australia. As well as the Tasman Bridge disaster, there was the Westgate Bridge collapse in Melbourne and the dreadful Granville disaster in Sydney, in which a train packed with commuters ran off the rails and hit the pylon of an overhead bridge, which collapsed onto the train, killing 83 passengers.
Whenever anyone mentions West Gate Bridge I always think of that poor girl that was thrown off it by her father. That bridge seems cursed 😪
@@annabel7679 Barriers have been put both sides of the Westgate to prevent some nutter trying to copy him.
I worked about a mile from the site of the Granville rail disaster and could see the results, absolutely shocking!
My sister usually caught the Granville train but missed it that morning, saved her life being late
tasman bridge hit collapse by ship
If you ever go on a tour boat ride around the Tasman River, the skipper of the boat will show you where the accident happened, provide a brief story of the events at that time etc, some of the tour boats even have pictures of the cars hanging over the edge. Having lived in Hobart for 3 years I became very familiar with the bridge, the story and how far away from the city everyone had to drive until the temporary bridge was erected. One thing the video didn’t mention was the Hobart Airport is on the east side of the river - not the city (west) side.
A $44M repair in 1977 would be around $291M today (in Australia)
The ship lake Illawarra is still down there, they could not bring it up as it is hard up against one of the bridge pylons. If they bring it up it will bring the whole bridge down. There are periodic safety checks done to ensure the ship doesn’t move due to currents over time. Also at the inquest it was found the Captain had consumed Whisky and therefore was impaired on that night. Losing his license for a few months is not justice for the loss of life he caused that night. R.I.P to those 12 people.
I was thirteen years old and crossed the bridge with my parents on that night, 5 minutes before the incident.
and too this day, even with GPS navigation. All traffic is suspended for the minutes it takes a large vessel to pass under.
As a tasmanian, my father was on the bridge that night, he was in the car before the one that was hanging off the edge.
Omg ! I’m glad he made it! So did they have mass ferry services running across the river during those 3 years?
@@Dr_KAP Yes and there is also a song written about it. it is called “ Ferryboat Shuffle sung by Curly Rivers. “ Candle Recordings. Year 1975. Australian Tasmania.
@@user-vd4cj3im8m oh wow thanks I’ll look that up! This was under 2 weeks after Cyclone Tracy - big month for Australia !
We heard that the ship in Baltimore needed its crew to keep it running, and that's why they're still on board. Maybe to stop it drifting sideways in the current?
Nothing about visas.
The ship was dragged a short distance away and now it’s a dive site
Thanks Ryan, you show more information on Australia than I have ever known. 😂
Me too. I learnt about gravy day from Ryan. Never knew there was such a thing.
I live in Hobart and can remember this disaster very clearly. A member of my family was on the bridge but were able to turn around and exit the bridge. They tried to warn a police officer who was attending a traffic stop, unfortunately the officer did not believe them. It totally divided Hobart ,we had to use ferries to get to school or work or drive a long way to another bridge north of Hobart. It encouraged the building of another bridge a little further North.
I hope the officer was sacked.
I live in Tasmania and worked in mental health here in Hobart and Sydney. I've known people who were impacted their whole lives by being either on the bridge or on the ship. I've met Murray. A real character.
Ships hardly ever go under these days. And they stop all traffic if they do.
All the big cruise liners dock in Hobart anyway.
Yes, in the Hobart harbour docks but before the bridge! 👍 This ship was headed to a more industrial dock! ☹️
From the opening of the repaired bridge every time a ship goes under the bridge is closed to traffic.
I go over the bridge to and from work every day. They still stop traffic whenever a large ship goes under it to this day.
The shipwreck is still down there at 110 feet below the surface.
On a clear day, if you go over it in a boat, you can apparently see it!
The Derwent river is very deep and the Illawarra is still at the bottom of the river to this day, up against one of the support posts of the bridge. Every now and then they send down divers to check that there's nothing leaking out of it, like zinc or oil etc. It was a terrible tragedy.
We lived near the Tasman bridge when it happened and it sounded like thunder. Not only do they have guiding lights for passing under the bridge. They also stop traffic when a ship goes under the bridge and there are restrictions on the size of the ships that pass under it. Lesson learned by us Tasmanians, but obviously not the rest of the world.
In 1970, the Westgate Bridge 🌉 in Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺 collapsed
My old boss was there and saw it all happen…so awful 😢
I heard that collapse. My preschool was right next to it. That was scary
I live in Newcastle so I am a long way from there but I remember only too well the shock and horror we all experienced when we heard about the incident. I was 23 years old by then. Initially it was disbelief then horror. Too many people lost due to carelessness. When Balitimore happened it sent my memory back to this event and also Granville.
I know Frank and Silvia Manly, some years later his mum lived next door to my Mum, he said he kept the HQ Monaro as he would never die in it now!
Can we take a moment to appreciate how beautiful that Monaro is?!?!
The odd thing about Murray Ling waving to stop people is that he had only one arm. That evening my older brother was travelling home to Sorell having been at Hastings Caves that day and the driver Lenny or Dot Pearton (cannot remember) commented that it was weird that the lights on the bridge had gone out when looking in the rear view mirror so a close call.
Murray lost his arm in a train accident. He was a survivor.
Not mentioned is the fact that the airport is on the east side, and was thus cut off from Hobart City. For a while, you could get a helicopter between the airport and the Casino on the city side. Cool way to get to the office.
My uncle and grandmother lived on the East side of the bridge! They had to go to work on the Ferries that were the bridge substitute, he complained of the much longer work days - but had better views! The Habour is actually very deep and it was not an easy fix! 😫
Yesterday another ship hit a bridge, this time a barge in Galveston Texas
I missed the collapse by minutes, coming from Lindisfarne. Had to get back home (West Hobart) via Bridgewater. I don't remember there being any fog that night.
It was the middle of summer at 9pm. It was still daylight. There was definitely no fog. I actually heard the crash from Montrose. It was my first day starting my very first job the next day & most of the staff couldn’t get to work as they lived on the eastern shore. I lived on the western shore. I was only 16 but learnt my job very quickly.
I agree, in early January, mid Summer we just don't get the conditions to create fog. Even if there was freakish weather that might by fluke cause it, definitely not just after a mid Summer sunset. Perhaps he couldn't think of/didn't know why they couldn't see so just said fog? He could be a content creator interested in clicks and not accuracy. Mind you, if he'd looked at the bridge and where the break was, it'd have been clear to him that they couldn't see as it was just after where the bridge peaked, so very hard to see for cars coming from the Western shore.
Some of my family lived at Lindisfarne, and others still live in Bellerive, it's an even better place to be now!
My wife is Tasmanian born and bred and we were living in Tasmania when that happened. It was a shock to everyone.
My father and a friend drove over the bridge minutes before it collapsed. I was at my grandparents' staying, and we felt a rumble, but didn't know what happened until the following day.
I remember this disaster because it was covered in the news services quite extensively just a side note that Holden Manoro is a special edition called the Limited and the owners still have it saw on a TV show a couple of years ago
We had a similar thing happening here in Sweden back in the 70's when I was a kid
This happened less than two weeks after cyclone Tracy, which was still dominating the news. For that reason I don't think this disaster is as well remembered as it should be.
Two other significant Australian tragedies worth looking into are.
1. The Most deadly Rail Tragedy
(1977 Granville Rail Disaster)
And
2 . The largest loss of Australian life in an act of terror.
(The 2002 Bali Bombings)
And don't forget another Tasmanian disaster:
The Port Arthur Massacre where Martin Bryant killed 35 people and injured 18 others
My great uncle was still crossing the bridge when it happened.
He saw the lights go out in his revision mirror.
The tragic event aside, the most interesting point touched on was that during the almost three years of disconnection, the more suburban side of the river became less dependent on the metro side, seeing a big boost in its service economy. I wonder whether this change in the day-to-day lives of Hobartians vanished when the bridge was rebuilt or if it is still apparent today.
The telling of this story is not entirely accurate! But it's entertaining. From a Tasmanian. The Baltimore bridge was worse as it appeared half of it collapsed, so it's supports weren't as adequate as our bridge it seems.
It was one of the coldest experiences of my life walking across that bridge in the rain in winter
Born in 1971 I was obviously way too young to remember the bridge collapse, but I lived in Rosny and went to Montagu Bay Primary from 1976 to 1982. I watched the rebuild and remember most of it. My dad had a 90-minute commute over the Bailey Bridge every day for years, I remember taking the Cartela ferry to town (Hobart CBD) with Mum many times. The Eastern Shore grew up over this time. Eastlands and Shoreline thrived through this crap, shaping the history of Hobart in (IMO) a positive way.
Dude I was born in Australia and I can tell you bridges are a tricky delicate topic.
One thing can fail in a bridge even a small thing and then the whole damn thing can collapse with disastrous results !
The captain had been drinking. Thank you for this footage Ryan amazing that there was not a greater loss of lives. RIP all those that passed.
That's what I thought, but I have googled it and apparently that was just rumour.
Humans always want a reason to blame someone. The bigger the reason, the more we like it.
We've had a few engineering disasters. Tasman Bridge, Westgate Bridge, Granville.
All traffic is also stopped while a bridge passes under.... which absolutely sucks haha
You should also do something like the West Gate Bridge disaster or the smaller Kings Bridge collapse, in Melbourne. The West Gate had the bridge fold during construction killing dozens in lunch.
I was actually on a small bridge (200 feet) at night when the bridge lights went out. I slowed to 20 mph, and the one car behind me did the same. We crossed okay, as it was just a power cut, but I'll never forget it, and the 2 bridge accidents keep it in my mind
I remember it well, I was 13 yrs old living in Hobart that night I was waiting for my father to come home when the news of the Illawara hitting the bridge came on the news report.... I was so scared waiting for my father as I knew he had to cross the bridge to get home and having no idea if he was on it or not........ I was so relieved when he showed up an hour later.... the next day, he and I jumped in our little boat and motored up the Derwent river and took a close look from under the bridge. he has his facts wrong.... several cars did infact plummit into the river below. After the bridge collapse they needed to errect another means to get across the river so they made a floating bridge down next to where our house was located in the army base at Dowsing Point.... until the floating bridge was assembled the only other means was passenger ferries.... Point of interest, the ferries were all named after Australian bushrangers.
There was another one as well around the same era (1970s ?) I remember it from my childhood. The West Gate bridge in Melbourne. I mean, it wasn't hit by a ship or anything but it was still memorable for illustrating engineering failures.
I seen this bridge in 2016 when visited Tasmania, I'm from Sydney
You should look at the Granville train disaster
Holy moly. This was a great request and reaction. I’m too young to remember this and have never seen this footage. Really good.
I was 13 at the time and remember the night clearly, the Tasman bridge is only a couple km from our home, it was later Reported the Captain of the Ship was drunk.
That monaro was driving around Hobart for decades after. Probably still going.
On display at the National Motoring Museum of Tasmania at Launceston. Still owned by the family and on loan to the museum.
My great grandfather was on the bridge and I'll never forget how haunted he seemed when he told me about watching the cars in front disappear and slamming on his brakes 😢 worst thing, no mobiles so it was a while before the family knew he was OK, apparently he had an identical car to the black one hanging off the edge so there was some panic 😬 also because the Derwent is so deep, I think the 3rd deepest body of water, they never recovered anything or anyone 😢 it's all still down there
Also 10:09 the existing drawbridge north of Hobart is currently being replaced after it failed even after restoration
Also I am guessing the collapse is in the middle of an infrastructure boom to remove the traffic so the map might be inaccurate.
Greetings from Hobart. We all hate driving over 'The Bridge' It's a pain to drive over and it feels like you are driving over a grave.
Wow I'm Australian and never heard of this.
This Tasman Bridge collapse happened in 1975, 2 years before the Baltimore bridge was built in 1977. Seems strange that bridge engineers did not learn the lesson.
Actually they did; what they didn't take into account was that freighter ships would increase in size and mass to a point where the safeguards put in would so ineffective.
Even at the time of its design and construction, engineers working for the government advocated for a suspension bridge to be built, but were overruled by the Premier.
The Tasman bridge simply should not have been built like it was and the reason it was built the way it was, was because the two alternate designs cost more.
Have to say that if I was living in tassie at the time and heard people complain about having to drive to another bridge kms away …I would want to say….well least you have your life…Rest in peace to all the 12 who died that night.
Ryan check out the West Gate Bridge Collapse in Melbourne.
WoW can not believe ur checking this out...but then again I can LoL... the car hanging over the bridge was my ex partners..landlords Dad!! They all survived thank goodness 🎉scary tho....eff that✌️ best wishes to U and Urs 👍
I Remember Hearing about This Disaster On The News 14:04
First time saw this o ly 2 back then live in Australia Victoria
I was 18 months old when the Tasman Bridge went down, I don’t remember it, but I remember at a later date (before it was rebuilt) going over the river on a car ferry (somewhere near goodwood??) I also remember going over the rattly Bailey bridge, which for a little kid was bloody scary!
I was a kid too and hated going over the Bailey bridge also. However living on the Western shore meant we didn't cross it all that often.
@@DeepThought42 we lived in Lenah Valley, so didn’t have much cause for heading over to the Eastern Shore so often, so I’m not sure how often we went over the Bailey, but I do remember how much it used to scare me!
I was about to turn onto the bridge to cross that night when a change of mind saved our family.
Hey Ryan, you should check out the West Gate Bridge disaster in Melbourne in the 70's.
That’s first photo with the dog was from Betelgeuse lol
In 1970 the partially constructed Westgate bridge collapsed into the Yarra river Melbourne, falling on 35 workers , during their lunch break. Sad day indeed.
And still today when a ship passes underneath the Tasman Bridge, all traffic is stopped and the ship cannot pass underneath until all cars have cleared the bridge.
Still gives me chills.
I remember it well. It lead to large scale changes to the port because the biggest ships were no longer allowed to go under the bridge.
BTW the work in Baltimore has been proceeding at an amazingly fast speed. It is impressive how much has already been done. After finding the 6th (and last) victim they could finally use explosives, which was not possible as long as divers were in the water searching for that man. However, careful cutting up bridge trusses and carrying them away was a daily occurrence, except in bad weather. You need to follow the news better.
The new bridge has a strange kink in the middle, right where the tragedy happened. Apparently it's because they couldn't put the support back and this gives it extra strength or something.
Never forgotten. My brother and I were on a school tour and went over the bridge to visit the Cadbury Factory, just a few months beforehand.
The Cadbury factory is at Claremont? 🤔
@@jenniferharrison8915 I was 10 and brother 12. We went over the bridge to get there...if not there then somewhere else.
@@marionthompson3365 I remember going there twice, I hear they don't allow tours now though! Health risk!
That model of the disaster is (as far as I know) still at the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery in Hobart. well worth listening to is The Ferry Boat Shuffle, it is all about how the travellers had to get from the Eastern Shore to the Western Shore without travelling approx 43 km (26.5 miles) upriver, then 36 km (22.4 miles) back down the other side to Hobart.
what is really hard now, is that the Cartela was sold to a private business about 10 years ago, they said they were going to restore the original steam engine, it is currently sitting down in Franklin (about 30 minutes from Hobart) almost sunk, it is such a pity seeing her like that considering how much she was loved by Tasmanians.
I think it's likely my parent still have the single 45 record of "The Ferry Boat Shuffle" amongst there records stored away at their place. As a kid, I loved that song.
There was a ship thay got stuck on the beach in newcastle, back in 2007. The pasha bulka... crazy scary stiff
I was down there travelling just after it happened.
They will be doing more work on it in the coming years to add bike lanes and walking paths either side
It the moment the walking path is quite narrow as it was only made as a service platform
If your riding a bike across and someone is doing the same the other way there is only a few spots wide enough to pass each other so the addition is well needed
I’m a Taswegian and remember that night well, I had school friends living on the Eastern Shore and most of our commuting was done by ferry.
I was about as far across the country as you can get (northwest WA) but still remember hearing about this.
I moved to Sydney a few weeks after the Granville disaster. It was terrible.
I can't believe I nearly forgot about that. But I just remember thinking about those cars balancing on the edge and being spooked by it. And that Holden Monaro would be a collector's item now.
You might be interested mate in the bridge collapse that happened in Melbourne back in the same decade. The Westgate Bridge
Look up the Westgate bridge disaster in victoria
The owner of the green HQ GTS Monaro still has the car to this day. It is worth a fortune, just like all the old Monaro vehicles. They were almost a throw away car back then.
My husband was walking to the pay office when the span on the Westgate Bridge came down right on top of men having their lunch in the lunch room my husband said the ground shook as well as the thundering sound he worked on the other side of the river at C.A.C. Commonwealth Aircraft Fishermen’s Bend that happened in 1970 if I remember right 🇦🇺✝️🙏🏻🙏🏻✝️
It was a sad day in Tasmanian history.
Another bridge disaster I would recommend reacting to is the Granville Rail Disaster in Sydney 1977. There is a documentary/movie of it called “The Day Of The Roses” released in 1998. It’s a very long watch, 3-4 hours, but i’d recommend looking into the disaster itself.
The Captain of the Illawarra had been drinking!
Hobart Airport was isolated from Hobart City. 🇦🇺
I've been watching the Baltimore bridge disaster by an engineer on youtube since it happened. I found it similar to the Tasman Bridge disaster. I was 15 when it happened and as a Tasmanian it really did change lives. One must realise that technology and state of art equipment wasn't available in '75, not like now in 2024. I was watching the amazing equipment that was taking away the bits of giant twisted metal from the Baltimore bridge and how it's been done so quickly. Also 44 mill was an incredible amount of money back then. My Mum refused to drive over the bridge ever again.
I was a kid at the time. Prior to the disaster I used to sing the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is falling down" every time we crossed the bridge, and before that, it's predecessor in the same spot (well alongside). After the disaster and the Tasman Bridge was fixed, my Mum told me I wasn't to sing it while we were crossing the bridge ever again!
The first car was a relative of my children's family.. The driver could never sleep at night after this . He kept having the dry horrors .. I believe the boat is still down there..
Try and find out the disaster of the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne. My husband was working in a building right next to it. 15th of October 1970. 35 construction workers died.
12:47 The 44 million was in 1970's dollarydoos.
Equivalent today to about 370 million.
EDIT: Qxir is brilliant. Posts every Saturday Oz time.
Ryan, see if you can find the story of the Granville Rail Disaster!
A friend of mine was in one of the last cars to cross the bridge before it dropped, they saw the lights go out, but didn't realise why.
Would have been a waste of a good car; probably a 253 V8 early 70's Monaro.
Look up the Bold st Bridge collapse in Granville, Sydney. 18.01.77.
I always remember the date of this disaster and seeing it on the tv. I was almost 14 years old and I had got my 1st diary for Xmas. Guess what is recorded there for Jan 5!!
Crews have to stay on board. if it is a abandoned ship it is open to salvage.
I dont remember this , 1975 no time for News. 🌊🇦🇺
That "monero" 😂 would be worth a few dollars...
That photo of the 2 door Monaro and old station wagon is just incredible it just shows when it's not your time yet it's just not your time St Peter is not ready for you (not that I believe in heaven and hell)
I remember this but it’s still chilling today. It was the same year as the Granville train disaster in Sydney.
Granville was 2 years and 13 days later. 18/01/1977
Now look for the Granville Rail Disaster in Sydney.
Never heard this history before. Terrible but remarkable.
On the subject of bridges. You should do a reaction on the Melbourne bridge "west gate bridge" it collapsed while it was getting built in 1970
Ryan, now every time a ship goes under the Tasman Bridge it's closed to traffic using the traffic lights.
Not just traffic lights, personnel have to be there to blockade/physically stop all the cars. That's because just after the bridge re-opened they tested the safety red lights (set up to be triggered normally by any damage to the bridge) and no car stopped. So, they decided they'd have to force everyone to stop from then on every time a big enough ship goes under the bridge, timed away from peak traffic.