[jmclemore]

I grew up in dade city/ pasco co and remember 2 incidents regarding the sunshine skyway being hit by large ship or barge. However, i was a teenager at the time and only remember that is was a tragedy leaving many injury and dead. I’m not sure that greater detail would make it any more real than it already is to me.

[jmclemore]

Correction : I wasn’t as old as I thought. I just forgot the dates were earlier than I remembered.

The Blackthorn tragedy 1980 - I was 9 yrs and had lost my grandfather that year.

The Summit Venture disaster 1971 - was not even a year old so I must have remembered it from the new coverage in 1980.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Skyway_Bridge

[Rockingham]

You are referring in part to the 1980 collision of the Coast Guard vessel Blackthorn with another ship in the channel near the bridge. Some 23 crewmen perished when the ship sank.