Capt Calamity’s in deep water again – in spat over f loods at his £2m manor
40 years after he crashed Navy warship into a Thames bridge...
A NAVY captain who once crashed a warship into London Bridge is in hot water again – this time over flooding.
Colin Hamilton’s ship HMS Jupiter collided with the bridge in 1984, causing ‘significant’ damage to both the vessel and the landmark – not to mention huge embarrassment for the Royal Navy.
Now he’s back in the spotlight having been summonsed to court for failing to pay £4,000 council tax on a £2million Grade II-listed property he owns in West Sussex.
The retired captain and his wife June are battling their local authority, claiming that highway maintenance carried out nearby by the council led to a deluge of floodwater entering the 18th-century manor house.
The couple, who live in a neighbouring barn conversion, say it left the house unfit for habitation.
They have withheld the council tax in protest as they say the house should have been exempt as a result.
But magistrates in Worthing disagreed with the couple this week and hit them with a liability order for £4,060.46 plus £42 costs.
Rachel Hills, of Arun District Council, told the court several reminders had been issued for the 2022/23 charge and the case had appeared before magistrates many times in the last year.
The order means the couple have to pay their council tax or face further action in the courts. Captain Hamilton
Unfit for habitation
and his wife, who sits on Arun District Council as an Independent councillor, did not appear in court.
They are understood to be seeking to overturn the decision at tribunal.
Hamilton was hauled before a court martial after the London Bridge accident and was severely reprimanded.
Ignoring advice from the ship’s pilot, Hamilton, who was then a Royal Navy commander, failed to ask for assistance from two tug boats, Ionia and Sun Swale, to help navigate the Thames.
As a result the river’s current carried HMS Jupiter, a 113-metre, 3,200-ton naval frigate, causing it to dramatically turn broadside.
Hundreds watched on as the warship drifted at speed down the Thames and collided with the bridge, causing significant damage.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing chunks of granite rock from London Bridge tumble into the Thames.
Pictures taken at the time show how impact with the bridge caused severe damage to the side of the ship, bending the radar and communications tower.
Despite his court martial for his part in the accident, Hamilton was promoted to the rank of captain and went on to command other ships.
His wife, a writer, is a keen sailor herself and formerly chaired the Yachting Journalist’ Association. She said: ‘I’m shocked. I had no idea it was in court again as the matter is at the appeal stage.
‘A tribunal is meant to be considering our appeal.’
Arun District Council has been approached for comment. After the 1984 accident, HMS Jupiter had to undergo major repairs before she could be put back into service for the Royal Navy. The frigate, which could carry four Exocet missiles, was launched in 1967 and saw service across the world, helping with the evacuation of British subjects in Yemen in 1986.
During the First Gulf War the frigate was deployed to protect British interests at risk from the conflict. Her last deployment came in 1991 in the South Atlantic, returning via Rio de Janeiro and Barbados where she carried out anti-drug patrols.
The ship was decommissioned in 1992 and sold for scrap in 1997.