Bmda: The sinking of the Marques

No one knew when the Marques sailed out of Bermuda with 39 other tall ships in a carnival atmosphere on June 2, 1984, that it would be the last time the ship was ever seen.

Just 13 hours later - at 4 a.m. on June 3 - the Spanish-built ship went down in the North Atlantic ocean along with 19 crew members after being struck by a freak wave 78 miles north of Bermuda.

The Marques sank in less than one minute - just eight crew members survived and only one body was recovered from the disaster.

Among those killed were skipper Stuart Finlay, his wife Aloma and the couple's 15-month-old son Christopher. Twenty years later, little is being done in Bermuda to acknowledge the tragedy and many younger Bermudians have never even heard of the disaster.

But, at the time, the tragedy drew the world media to Bermuda and sparked a year-and-a-half long inquiry into the disaster.

The inquiry finally determined that the Marques had not been seaworthy - cold comfort to the families of the victims, many of whom were only in their late teens and early 20s when they died.

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