The Daily Telegraph - 20.08.2019

Antonio de Vasconcellos, whose 26th

birthday the private party was in aid

of. But Garnham knew the

organiser, Jonathan Phang, who

waved them on board.

“It’s funny,” muses Sutton, “there

are so many people I’ve spoken to

subsequently who say, ‘you know, I

was meant to go to that party but

couldn’t make it...’”

Now 58, he spends much of his time

in Spain, or travelling for his work as

an underwater photographer. When

he looks back on that night, he says,

“It’s all there in my head, in glorious

colour and surround sound. The

moment of impact is as clear now as it

was then. Of course, I know now that’s

post-traumatic stress disorder.”

He credits the flu with saving his

life. At 1.25am, once all 131 passengers

and crew were aboard, the

Marchioness set off downriver and

overtook its sister pleasure cruiser, the

Hurlingham. Nursing a beer and

unwilling to dance, Sutton stood on

the bow with Helen and Loh Manyem,

while Garnham ventured inside.

A few minutes earlier, Bowbelle –

three times the length of the

Marchioness and more than 1,

tonnes heavier, but travelling at twice

the speed – had also overtaken the

Hurlingham and was behind the

Marchioness when they both

approached Cannon Street bridge.

For reasons that have never

become clear, the paths of the two

boats began to meet in the darkness.

The crew of Bowbelle – which

included skipper Douglas Henderson,

who wasn’t at the helm at the time

and had earlier drunk six pints of beer

• didn’t see the Marchioness, and the
  pleasure cruiser couldn’t get away
  quickly enough. At 1.46am, Bowbelle
  collided twice with the Marchioness,
  instantly separating the wooden party
  boat’s deck and forcing it underwater.
  In 30 seconds, the entire saloon had
  been submerged. Sutton, meanwhile,
  was still on the bow.
  “I heard the crack of the deck
  splintering and then I could see it – the
  two big hawseholes of the Bowbelle
  staring at me. One minute I had my
  hand on a railing, then before I knew it
  I was in the water holding on to Helen,

Women Mean

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FEATURES

Every August, Andrew Sutton is

haunted by a vision of the Bowbelle.

“It becomes a bit more acute at this

time of year, like the body has a

self-timer mechanism,” he says. “It

comes to me as funny little shapes and

visual interruptions, or sometimes just

in the form of a migraine. But I know

when it’s here. I live with it.”

It is 30 years today since Sutton first

locked eyes with the dredger. In the

early hours of August 20 1989, he was

out drinking with a friend – the now

celebrated portrait photographer

Chris Garnham – in central London,

when they decided to join a birthday

party on the Marchioness, a pleasure

cruiser that had been taking tourists

up and down the river Thames.

Sutton wasn’t feeling it: he’d spent

the day in bed with flu, but Garnham

convinced him that a night of

summer revelry would do him good.

He reluctantly agreed, so with their

girlfriends, Helen and Gillian, and

another friend, Tony Loh Manyem,

they arrived at Embankment Pier

just before 1am. None was

technically invited: they didn’t know

It is 30 years since the pleasure boat was crushed on the River Thames, taking the lives

of 51 people. Survivor Andrew Sutton tells Guy Kelly about his anger, guilt and recovery

‘I still live with the Marchioness

disaster, every day’

Continued on page 18

Sutton was delirious, but remembers

seeing an individual in chef ’s trousers

hit the stanchion of a bridge and sink

without a trace. The next thing he

knew, policemen were hauling the

couple on to a boat.

They were the lucky ones. That

night, 51 people drowned: 24 found

below deck and 27 in other parts of

the Thames. Among them were

Garnham and Loh Manyem, as well as

de Vasconcellos, captain Stephen

Faldo, and 19-year-old Francesca

Dallaglio, the youngest person on

board and sister of future England

rugby captain Lawrence.

Sutton and Helen may have been

the final people pulled from the water

alive, since many of the survivors were

rescued quickly by the Hurlingham.

Sutton was taken to St Thomas’s

hospital but had no major physical

injuries, so discharged himself after a

few hours. He returned to work after

three days, and received no therapy

for months. Public sympathy was in

short supply, too. Since many of the

‘Before

I knew it,

I was in

the water

holding

on to

Helen,

who sank

like a

stone’

who sank like a stone because she had

a velvet coat on,” he recalls. Sutton was

a strong swimmer. He was able to put

his girlfriend in a hold and kick off the

side of the boat.

“I was aware that something was

attached to my leg, and reached down

to find it was Tony,” he continues. “He

came nose to nose with me, before

being dragged down... I have a bit of

guilt that I didn’t do more to save him,

but he must have been caught on the

railing or by his clothing, because he

was so forcefully pulled down. I have

that memory of his face next to mine

like a Gothic painting now.”

Sutton and Helen were left alone in

the quiet. He didn’t know exactly

what had happened, but knew they

couldn’t stay where they were –

Bowbelle was still thundering

forward. “Pulling away from the hull

of the dredger as it went past was

another one of those moments that

saved our lives,” he explains.

Over the next 20 minutes, they were

swept back upstream – as far as the

National Theatre, opposite where

they’d boarded the Marchioness.

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The

Marchioness,

which sank on

August 20 1989,

with 131 people

on board,

including crew

Shaun

Lockwood-

Croft, one of 51

people killed in

the Marchioness

disaster

Some of the

passengers

were rescued,

above;

Francesca

Dallaglio, left,

died

Rescue workers

at the scene

following the

collision with

the Bowbelle

dredger

IAN JONES; GETTY IMAGES; DAILY MIRROR; PA ARCHIVE; REX

Elsa Margarita

Garcia, and

Dean Palmer,

right, who were

onboard the

pleasure cruiser

Survivors are

taken to

hospital, above;

investigators

aboard the

wreckage, right

The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 20 August 2019 *** 17

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