Man Overboard

MAN OVERBOARD – April 20, 1970

We are working hard on our classes as it’s a week before our next port. Papers are due and of course, we still have shows, music, and dance for entertainment. Seas got rough. They put up ropes all over to hang on to as you moved around the ship.

It’s hard to see how rough the ocean is, but believe me, we got rocked to sleep.

On April 19th – 4 days out of Dar es Salaam, we had an experience I never hope to repeat.  Jon Boonekamp, one of the crew members, went OVERBOARD!

In Jon’s words (from The Helm), “I was just sitting on the deck in front of the Student Union listening to a soccer match on the radio.  When the match was over, I decided to go down to the lower deck to be closer to the crew’s swimming pool and the water.  I sat about five feet from the crew’s doors on the top of two “bolders”.  (Bolders are the large posts which the ropes that hold us to the piers are fastened) and watching the sea.  I felt that this area was safe because there was no water on the deck, and the doors to the crew’s quarters were open.

Suddenly the ship went very high and I fell off the bolder and had to catch hold of the railing.  When the wave came up and crashed on the ship, I felt as if I had been pulled through the railing.  I was underwater and could see only blue and bubbles.  I didn’t know which way was up or down.  Finally, I came to the surface about even with the volleyball court. I yelled HELP!  HELP! HELP! And some students threw me a life preserver.  

The ship was disappearing, but I saw it veer to the right and then turn to the left and I knew it was coming back for me.  I could see that she was flying a red and yellow flag which is a warning to all nearby ships that there is a man overboard. As I learned later, there were two ships in the area and both stopped and turned sideways forming a triangle around me.  I started swimming towards a life ring, but the wind and waves kept carrying it away.  I was getting tired, and my clothes were heavy, so I took them off to make swimming easier.  Before I could get to a life preserver two Albatrosses began to attack me.  They would climb high in the air and streak down towards me like a dive bomber, pulling up only when they were about two feet from my head.  I continued towards the life preserver but had to stop periodically to wave and curse at the birds.  I finally got to the life ring after about ten minutes and saw the ship; it had stopped.  I noticed that they had started lowering the starboard lifeboat but stopped because there was too much wind on that side of the ship, and it was too dangerous.  Instead, a life boat was lowered on the port side.  I realized that lowering a boat in rough seas is very dangerous and that its rescue crew must be all volunteer.  I was relieved to see that they got the boat into the water with great skill and speed.  I heard Wim say, ‘ Hey, it’s Jon the bellboy!” I took the life preserver off because it would have been too difficult to get me in the boat otherwise.  The boat came over and big Joop grabbed me by my arm and shorts and pulled me into the boat.  We came back to the Ryndam and had some trouble raising the boat because of the danger of the hooks and the rough seas.” 

For those of us on board, it was tense – very!!!  

Students watching the lowering of the lifeboat.

Crew working the cranks that lower the lifeboat.

Crew in and lowering begins.

They needed to lower a life boat on the other side of the ship.

Notice the ship on the horizon.  There were 2 of them forming the triangle.  Rules at sea are that you don’t leave until the person is found.  

The seas are rough.  Can you see Jon and his preserver on the water?  VERY quickly, you can’t see a person overboard.  BECAUSE the students happened to see him and through him a life preserver, the ship stopped very quickly.

Now to bring them back up!!!

To say that everyone was relieved and grateful is a huge understatement. The chances of finding someone overboard is very tiny, especially if no one sees them go into the water.  

We were all glad it wasn’t us, and we never again complained about drills to getting into the lifeboats.