The bridge

[happy daze john in oz]

There is a series on TV here in Oz about bridges of the world.

It has covered ones such as Sydney Harbor, Golden Gate and many other well known ones.

But tonight brought back memories, memories of the Vindicatrix.

The bridge was the Severn Railway bridge.
Any one at the Vindi from 1960 onwards would remember it for one thing, the missing span.

One dark night in late 1960 two vessels collided taking out one of the supports and with it one span of the bridge.
The bridge could be seen quite clearly from the grounds of the Vindi.

One shot showed the remains of the two vessels lying on the river bed at low tide.

There were 21 spans before the collision and many a Vindi lad would count them one at a time each day in the last three weeks of his course prior to leaving.
The bridge, just like the Vindi is now gone.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Tuesday 25th October 1960

The tragic Severn Bridge disaster claimed five lives off Sharpness