Jim Roberts on Saving Lives at Sea
The Spit Head area is always a good area for incidents and my memory now turns to the vessel called the ‘Flag Theofano’ carrying a load of cement, Portland cement if I remember right. She disappeared from the anchorage in St Helens Roads overnight without any calls for assistance.
When the alarm was raised the next morning, a search by Bembridge Lifeboat and the Coastguard helicopter revealed an oil slick and a length of rope on the starboard hand side of the main shipping channel in Spit Head, again in the Dean Tower area. Investigations revealed that she must have dragged her anchor for some reason and sunk with the loss of all hands.
The hull of the vessel was located, and wreck marks put in position.
A ship’s lifeboat was the only other thing we found and that was washed up on the beach at Hayling Island.