Earlie; <OT> Before I got on the Tugs I cut my teeth
as a fisherman..if you haven't seen the Prefect Storm
it's worth seeing.
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Of course in the Movie they have to dramatize things
but what got me was that they did so good at capturing
the "personalities" and the life style.
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As for how the boat sunk no one knows , but having been
in critical situations with old boats ( windows busted
out , radio gear all shorted, rudder chain broke,
out riggers lose, hatches washed away ,) you name it
and at one time or another I was in it.
I know the sinking was most likely a confluence of things.
She was not a new boat & out a long time, fuel likely low enough that in a storm it washes all the rust and scale
off the inside of the tanks and into the filters.
They were likely trying to change fuel filters
every 30 minutes, and with all the other problems lost first one engine then the next, no power & no steerage was the most likely set up.
No doubt the wheel house windows got blown out and with that type of house the water flooded
the lower quarters , and if they had an inside hatch to
the engine room it found it's way there and with engines
down no way to pump it out.
Eventually they just wound up helpless and the flooding
caused her to lose her stability ( righting arm ) and
they rolled over.
Chances are they fought hard with all what they had
right up to the last minute as that's all you can
do to take your mind off dieing.
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The worst one I got caught in my rudder chain broke
and I was waste deep in water in the rudder room
trying to tie down a 1000lb quadrant that was trying
to kill me , so I could put a chain back on it.
I remember the thought clear " I wouldn't bet a nickel
I will survive this " not even a nickel for my chances
but we never stopped fighting, low and behold the eye
went right over us and in that 10 min break we got the
chain on ..( backwards ) but it worked and it didn't
take me long to get use to turning the wheel the
opposite way I wanted to go, :-)
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You should have seen the look on the owners face
when we did get in, the boat was like striped
water tanks, hatches , doors , all wash away and
gone..the deck looked like it had been sand blasted.
Every thing inside was also shot..
When I got home and undressed I saw my wifes
eyes go wide; she saw the bruises before I did
and when I looked I couldn't even believe my own eyes
as I had never felt the pain getting them.
I was covered all over front and back , legs
torso every where like someone had worked me over
with a rubber hose I don't think there was a spot on my
body over an inch square were I wasn't bruised, some
of them were real ugly deep deep purple with
of some broken skin too..but in the fight I had never
really felt any pain.
My body must have produced a lot of that doperman stuff
that kills pain as even looking at them I still
didn't feel the pain, but man the next day, hell for
the next two weeks did I ever hurt, mostly my ribs.
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Any way it was one hell of a Movie, and I almost felt
as if I was with em..
I didn't buy the guy on the end of the lose outrigger
I've done that on tied down ones but with it popping
up and down, well I know there are limits were
no one can hang to any thing not even with both hands,
as I've been wrenched out of a wedged position between
two bulkheads and then tossed like a rag doll when
a BIG one hits..there is nothing you can hang onto
tight enough and I was one super strong mean SOB
back in them days.
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Ah it's a real rub; getting old after being so damm
physical as a youngster , I can't seem to adjust in
good grace to the limits age has put on me.
Jim |
