Teacher Aboard Logs

Good Evening! We are about to get underway as our new captain aboard, Dan Parrott, has decided that we have an opportunity to sneak out and leave Ireland before any more excitement happens! Oh, but that's right, you don't know what's been going on! Well, let me tell you what I've learned about the forces of nature, safety, and heroes.

Tragedy off the Coast

The weather conditions had gone from one extreme to the other. After Saturday's beautiful day, Mother Nature thought she'd give us a look at her dark side. Sunday brought gale conditions offshore with winds of 50 knots and ocean swells from 15 to 24 feet.

By Monday morning we'd all heard the news; a 120-foot French fishing trawler, An-Orient, had been hit by a large wave and sunk 80 miles off the coast northwest of us. Several fishing boats, lifeboats, and helicopters braved the terrible weather in search of the vessel and crew but found only three survivors that were suffering from hypothermia and shock. Eight others were lost and presumed drowned. The bosun (responsible for the boat's rigging), Fernando Neves, described seeing the second engineer in the water and swimming towards him. "He died in my arms," he said.

Lifeboats and Heroes

This was a terrible tragedy, but not unheard of amongst people who live near the sea. Baltimore, Ireland, has had a volunteer lifeboat station since 1915. Stations like their's exist at strategic positions along the coastline and have a specific area of coverage.

Their current vessel is of the Tyne class and is due to be replaced with a newer version in the near future. The boat has watertight doors that are closed while underway and, if it rolls over, it will right itself within seconds.

To launch the boat, they tap a release plunger and the boat drops on a ramp into the water. Here is a series of pictures showing being taken back out of the water. The first picture shows the cable that's been passed to the crew and tied to the boat.

After a short haul, two new lines are temporarily attached and the cable switched to a new attachment point on the skeg.

The boat is then pulled the rest of the way, sliding on specially made skids all the way up. Their team has been involved in numerous rescue operations and has been awarded 7 silver and 3 bronze medals for gallantry and heroism. After looking at pictures of several rescues, I can tell you that these people risk their lives every time they go out. They do it because they can and want to help.

Back on Pride II

Our captain knew that bad weather was on its way. He'd been paying close attention to all the sources of weather information at his disposal. The most telling devices were the barometer, which measures and displays the current atmospheric pressure, and the barograph, which produces a paper printout showing the range of pressure over several days.

This picture of the barograph tells the entire story. The graph shows the readings from September 30 to October 4. As you can see, when the low pressure system moved into the area the reading changed from 1013.5 to 988.0 - an incredible drop! An even better way to view the contrast is by comparing these two photographs.

I took the first one on Saturday while returning to the boat.

I took the second from the lifeboat on Tuesday.

Even though Pride II was anchored in the harbor protected from the open ocean, there was still a lot of wind and moving water to deal with, so both anchors were checked as the crew readied the boat for what was to be a long 48 hours! By Tuesday the winds picked up and the anchors began to drag as everybody ashore watched with concern, including me. With the Captain's permission, I had stayed ashore as the guest of one of our new friends, Kieron Walsh, proprietor of the Algiers Bed and Breakfast. The volunteer lifeboat team launched their boat and went out to offer assistance. Pride II'scaptain requested that the two passenger crewmembers still on board be taken and put on shore, while he and the crew began their struggle with the anchors.

The lifeboat returned with the passengers, and we settled down to watch as the crew tried time and again to set the anchors. Andy took these pictures of the crew hauling up the anchor chain, and then later after hauling the anchors several times!

Tragedy Strikes Again

A news report came over the radio, and we were stunned to hear that a 140 foot Spanish vessel had wrecked on the coast. The trawler, Arosa, had broken apart on the rocks. All but one member of its 13 crewmembers was lost. If you look closely at this newspaper picture, you can see the wreck being pounded by the Atlantic waves. Only five bodies had been recovered when the search was abandoned due to the severe weather conditions.

Go to Part 2 of the October 4, 2000 Log