A few of my siblings and I were having a relaxed conversation in the almost deserted restaurant of our cruise ship, the Solstice, some time after midnight when there was a terse message over the Public Address system:
“Man overboard. Starboard side”
No exclamation marks in transcribing it, because it was delivered very calmly.
It took a few moments for the implication of that matter of fact statement to sink in. There was someone all alone out in that blackness fighting for his life. Someone who just a short time before had probably been watching the entertainment along with us in the theater, who was one of the hundreds of cheerful passengers on this glittering ship. At this very moment he, or she was drifting farther and farther away down there tossed wildly by the choppy sea.
We all scattered to our staterooms. Mine was on the starboard side. I went out on to my verandah and instantly I became a witness to the drama of the search for the man overboard.
There was no distnguishing the sea from the sky. Everything beyond the glow of the lights along the hull of the ship was total blackness. The strong wind wailed like a banshee as it squeezed through the crack in the sliding glass door that I had not latched behind me. The sea was in turmoil, waves chopping the surface in all directions, their tops whipped into surging whitecaps. Occasionally in the distance where the horizon should be flashes of lightning gashed the blackness momentarily silhouetting enormous turbulent cumulus clouds.
As my eyes adjusted to the dark I could see two tiny lights, far away, the beacons of a lifeboat that had been sent out to search. An intense beam of light from a powerful searchlight from the bridge up front shot out towards the tiny beacons. It swept that area for a while then seemed to fix itself on one spot while the ship very slowly moved in wide arcs back and forth.
A coded announcement “For the crew: Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.. (I couldn’t distinguish the rest)” suddely broke the silence. I could hear a small fast boat slapping across the waves as it sped away from the ship towards the beacons of the lifeboat.
On the lifeboat deck far below my verandah I could see crewmen readying an open utility boat for launching over the side.
After a while the ship’s horn sounded once. It must have signalled confirmation of a message from the lifeboat out there in the dark.
The launch crew below sprang into action. They were purposeful and disciplined but the wind, the rocking and plunging of both the ship and the small boat dangling by cables from the winches made this operation very dangerous. All of those crew were risking their lives. They could be crushed between the ship and the boat or thrown overboard.
Before the utility boat was lowered into the water, an officer dressed in a white tunic, carrying a black kit got on board. He must have been the ship’s doctor. I imagine it would be his job to either assist a survivor or certify the victim dead. In either event it indicated the impossible had been accomplished: the man overboard had been found in that black malestrom.
Getting the utlity boat into the water was a feat of seamanship and courage. Not only was there the danger as it swung from its cables threatening to smash itself against the ship’s hull, but as it neared the water, large waves kept tossing it upwards then left it dangling in their troughs. It was like trying to break a wild stallion.
The difficulties and danger didn’t end when the boat was cast off. Evidently the objective was to speed to the lifeboat, but going fast in the turbulent water put the boat at risk. At times it would pitch up almost vertically and a moment later dive just as steeply. You could hear the thudding as it did so and the different pitch of the engine as the propeller at times came right out of the water. The sound of this contest between boat and sea continued after the boat disappeared into the darkness.
More oficers and crew gathered expectantly on the lifeboat deck below as the sound of the returning utility boat with the doctor was heard.
Getting it back up onto the ship was as difficult as getting it into the water. The officer in the white tunic with the black kit stepped on to the deck. Then from the small enclosed part of the boat emerged two or three crew members carrying the survivor supporting him by his arms. He seemed unable to support himself, or reluctant to be brought on board, his bare feet dragging. He was dressed in a shirt and shorts.
Cheers broke out from observers in their verandahs.
It was amazing that anyone would survive out there, incredible that he would be found.
As he was laid on a stretcher on the deck and taken away , he was hidden from my view by several crew members bending over him, but the great amount of activity seemed to indicate some sort of commotion.
At breakfast the rumors began to circulate.
It was obvious he had not fallen but jumped overboard. It requires a very determined effort to fall off a cruise ship.
His going overboard must have been witnessed because the location had been quickly marked by a location device thrown into the water, and that helped account for the fact that he was found.
Who had observed him? One version was that the personnel monitoring the security cameras on the ship had seen him go overboard and immediately alerted the bridge. Another rumor claimed he did it in the presence of some passengers.
It was rumored that he actually wore a life jacket as he jumped. As odd as that appears, considering that he hadn’t drowned in that turbulent sea and taken with another rumor, that he had resisted rescue (and I guessed that he was struggling to get free from his rescuers as they tried to help him off the utility boat and on to the stretcher) it would be consistent with the behavior of a mentally unbalanced person.
The fact that he was rescued was a tribute to the skill and professionality of the crew. Some of them had even unhesitatingly risked serious injury or death.
8 comments:
Louis,
Chilling account of a possible tragic story. His misdeed could have cost the lives of several others sent out to rescue him. Luckily no one perished in the operation.
Brilliant, gripping account Louis! I felt like I was standing next to you also witnessing it. So glad that all went well. Have you seen the passenger since, or heard anything about his recovery?
Going to read the next post now.
Blessings
Wow, Louis, what an exciting narration of a heroic rescue! It reads like a mystery novel. I was at the edge of my seat, tense with the suspense of it all! Incredible that the man could be found in all that dark water, and amazing that he was not incapacitated by the cold! Sometimes I wonder if we should allow rescue groups to commence civil action for damages against people who deliberately put themselves in danger, thus necessitating a rescue. It couldn't have been easy for the rescue personnel and it put them in some degree of danger, too.
I join my voice to the others, to say this was a brilliant read.
I was so interested to find out the 'story', I forgot to put a real person into it, and your opening paragraphs soon put paid to that.
He jumped? How sad. And on so many levels. He wanted to die, and in trying to keep him from doing just that, so many others could have lost their lives as well.
Did you notice how I kept away from 'watery grave' in my comment? It wasn't easy ;)
Zawi,
I share your indignation that this person's rash deed could have cost innocent crew members injury or death.
Some time ago a similar incident, which was later proven to be not the ship's fault but that of some irresponsible drunks, unnecessarily caused some media and poliitical rage here and triggered some international friction.
It is almost impossible for a passenger to accidentally fall off one of these modern cruise ships.
Guanaguanare,
I understand he was removed from the ship at the next port and flown back to the US.
CO'78,
If this incident had occurred on an Alaska cruise it is doubtful the jumper would have survived the hour or so he was in the cold water. Fortunately for him he jumped into a warm Tropical sea.
Some of the rumors indicated that there are penalties for such an act. The cruise line apparently could bill him for the cost of the search and rescue, among other things. My feeling is that they should recover those costs. But of course there is no way to compensate the crew for their risks and hardship.
Pat,
He had to have jumped. Under normal conditions it is practically impossible to accidentally fall off a cruise ship. In fact I had to persuade one or two of the members of our reunion of this before they would agree to sign on, especially when they learned their stateroom would have a large sliding glass door opening on to its own open verandah.
If the rumor is to believed (and it seems true) that he was wearing a life jacket when he went overboard, then one can infer he was drunk, mentally unbalanced or incredibly stupid. Bungling one's suicide must be very depressing.
Yes, I appreciate your sparing us that cliché, Pat :)
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