Maydays, Rescues and Refugees
26 May 2011 | North Atlantic
John
So, here we are, heading in an easterly direction with the marine VHF radio monitoring channel 16 round the clock. It is a never ending chatter of ships trying to avoid each other, coastal stations calling ships and broadcasting weather channels to listen to and other traffic in languages nobody seems to understand. Then we have heard one ship having its crew rescued somewhere near the Straits of Gibraltar - it appeared to be a small vessel that sank.
The Spanish rescue services have also been busy trying to find a crewman that had fallen overboard from a freighter. Yesterday we heard one of the Spanish Coast Guard vessels busy picking up refugees out of a small boat, just over the horizon and in the main shipping lane. I then observed their two vessels returning, coming directly for us, when they shot off at an angle, about a mile and a half from us, and found another group of refugees drifting in a small boat. They then headed back to the Spanish coast and ignored us.
We have had a small twin engine spotter plane fly over us twice and this morning, Wednesday 25 May, had a helicopter with FLIR cameras hover just off our starboard side - obviously we are now in their surveillance file. However, we all did smile for the camera and gave them the required wave.
At noon today (Wednesday 25 May) we have approximately 1460 nautical miles to our destination. At our current speed, this equates to an arrival date of 7 June. However, we have no wind at the moment at the predictions for the days ahead do not look much better. We are burning a lot of fuel at the moment, simply to keep moving. We may have to make a further stop along the route to obtain more fuel, but will leave that decision for over the coming weekend.
At the moment the off-watch crew are mostly either sleeping or reading books in their cabins. It is cold outside and the warmest place is either in the direct sun or in your cabin. There is a bit of general activity around midday, when everybody makes themselves a snack to eat and the main general activity around 5pm, when dinner is being prepared. Tonight it is to be fish caught this morning, tossed with fusile pasta and some vegetables. The fish is Bonita, which really needs to be eaten when mixed with something else. We still have two packs of Wahoo and one pack of sailfish in the freezer, but are keeping those for a later meal.
And now after an overnight break in typing up the blog, we can report that at 10 minutes past midnight last night, during my watch, we were approached by an unlit ship. Soon after I saw it in the dim light available from the clear stars, all hell broke loose and we had four rubber ducks all round us with searchlights and military personnel armed to the teeth. It was a patrol from a joint French/Spanish warship that I had first seen without lights. We welcomed a boarding party aboard and they spent an hour going through the boat and our papers. They were all friendly but efficient in the task they were assigned and departed in a friendly manner. I must point out that we were in international waters and they, legally, were not allowed to board our vessel but, we have nothing to hide, and they were invited to board by myself. It is good to know that the waters are being well patrolled to ensure our safety. The photograph above is of one of the Spanish contingent waiting for his French officer to check all our passports.
Well, from a sleep deprived crew, I bid you well until the next blog report in a few days time - John.