Shirley Dowling

Skyway Down Shirley Dowling

The year 1980 was a year of two maritime tragedies in the Tampa Bay area of central Florida. In January two ships, the Coast Guard buoy tender, U. S. S. Blackthorn and the tanker, S. S. Capricorn collided just 1500 yards west of the Sunshine Skyway bridge, taking the Coast Guard cutter to the bottom of the 50-foot channel. Twenty-three young sailors lost their lives that night. Three months of hearings in the wake of this horrific accident followed, bringing together a young female news reporter from an independent television channel in St. Petersburg and a Boston attorney, on assignment in defense of the tanker Capricorn. A courtship developed into a serious romance as the hearings continued until May 8, at which time a verdict was handed down. In the early morning of May 9, during a severe storm in which all ships in those waters were blinded by the rain and dense fog, the Sunshine Skyway bridge was rammed by the freighter M. V. Summit Venture, collapsing 1200 feet of the bridge and taking 8 vehicles to the bottom of the channel with her. Thirty-five people died in the 150-foot deadly plunge. This is their story.