Witness to Bravery

                   WITNESS TO BRAVERY
         SOS …-- -- --- … the distress call came crackling over the radio.  A ship out there in this late Dec. gale was in trouble.    Her position report put her about 100 miles away, a 14 to 16 hr. trip for us.  She reported a cracked hull and was taking on water.    She had 45 people aboard, 35 crew and 10 passengers.  The question was not only could we reach her before she broke up, but how could we rescue the people in the rough sea conditions if we did reach her in time. 
         We had been fighting 40 to 50 ft. waves and winds to 70 knots for two days in a hurricane force gale coming out of the North Sea.    I was an 18 yr. old kid on my second voyage.  At times I thought it would be my last.    We were taking water over the bow with almost every wave and rolling 30 degrees each way.  My duty of checking the lashings on the lifeboats took me out on the weather decks, exposed to seas washing the length of the ship.    Only my strength and the safety harness attached to life lines kept me aboard.
         The ship was the Gen A. W. Greeley, a WWII transport, now in private ownership with a civilian crew, but leased by the U.S. Navy for military transport.    We were out of New York bound for Bremer-haven.  In addition to cargo, we had some soldiers and army nurses aboard going to European duty stations.
         We caught site of the stricken ship at 10 AM the next day.  She was now at a 45 degree list, dead in the water and broached, or broad-side to the waves.      The sea conditions had subsided some, but waves were still 15 to 20 feet and winds at 40 knots.    It looked like an impossible rescue situation as it would be very dangerous to launch lifeboats and they could not get near the stricken ship.   
         Another freighter, the Southland was already on the scene and a Norwegian tanker soon arrived.  Motor lifeboats would be launched by the transports, with the tanker standing upwind to help screen the wind and putting oil on the water to cut down on the spray.  The rescue ships could get no closer than ¼ mile and the lifeboats could get no closer than 50 yards.    The crew would have to jump and swim for the life-boats.    Complicating matters were the 10 passengers, 5 women, two over 50, four men, one over 70 and a boy of 10.   
         Now imagine you are one of the passengers.    You have huddled in a passage way all night.  You know the ship has a crack across the width of the deck and down to the waterline on the port (left) side.      You are alert to any sounds that would indicate the crack is widening.  If it splits more the ship could sink in minutes.  This has occupied your mind all night, plus thoughts of your loved ones you might be leaving.
        There is no light or heat, it is 45 degrees and all you can hear is the howl of the wind and the boom when waves hit the ship          As dawn breaks you are buoyed by hope when informed other ships are on their way and will arrive by mid morning.    Even when they arrive you can’t imagine how they are going to rescue you in these wind and wave conditions.  However, soon lifeboats are astern and you are told you will have to jump into the sea and swim to those lifeboats.    You take your shoes off as ordered, and holding onto a rope tied to railings, you make you way to the stern of the ship.  In the spray you occasionally see a lifeboat bobbing up and down.  Leaving your blanket behind, the spray and rain squalls soon drench you to the skin.    You, along with the other passengers, are reluctant to jump, thinking there is no way you can get to those lifeboats.    The oldest German woman, Elsa, goes first; you think if she can, then you can. 
         You hang on the rail, trying to keep your feet under you on the wet sloping deck.    A crewman is tied to you with a 4 ft. rope as you get your instructions.    A seaman screams in your ear, “now listen, when you jump fold your arms across your chest and cover your mouth and nose with one hand, but don’t pinch your nose tight”.  “Hold tight so the lifevest doesn’t come up and hit you in the face”.  When you hit the water you will go down, as you come up, put both your arms above your head and splash water outward”.  “There’s oil on the water and that will splash it away, you don’t want to take a mouthful of oil in that first breath”.  Then swim away from the ship as hard and fast as you can, you got that”.  You nod a yes and say a mental prayer.    You scramble over the rail, holding on with a vengeance.    The crewman tied to you shouts, “don’t jump until I say jump”.  You nod yes.
         The jump must be timed perfectly, the waves come up almost to the deck, then drop down and back.  If you jump when it’s going down you will be swept down and away from the ship.  If you jump on the rise you will be smashed back into the ship.    You hear, “JUMP, but are pulled along when the crewman jumps.    You do as told with your arms and hit the water.  A shock runs through your entire body as you  hit the 40 degree water and you think you will never stop sinking.    Then you surface, gulp air and wonder where you are.  You feel a tug as the crewman starts to swim.  You then get a glimpse of the ship, get oriented and start swimming for all you are worth.    A couple of times you glimpse a lifeboat as you are on the crest of a wave.  Suddenly you see a lifeboat nearby, a rope has been thrown out and your crewman is being pulled along, pulling you with him.  A boat hook reaches out, you grab it and in a moment you are being pulled into the lifeboat.    A blanket is tossed at you, it’s wet but helps keep the spray off.    Looking back, you see another pair jump.  No one jumps until the preceding pair has been picked up.    The lifeboat crews only get an occasional glimpse of the swimmers; a man on the ship gives directions by arm signals.    Soon the other pair is hauled in and your boat heads for its mother ship.
         As you come alongside the Greeley you are shivering uncontroll-ably.  You look straight at people on deck; then look up at them about 20 feet as the boat drops with the wave.    There are cargo nets and ropes with loops draped over the side of the Greeley.    A harness on a rope is tossed down, the crew buckles you in.  You again get instructions.      A crewman is hollering in your ear again, ‘Grab the rope as high as you can, and as the boat drops down, swing out like Tarzan in the jungle”,    “Hold your legs out to break the force when you hit the ship’.    You nod, the voice hollers jump, the boat drops out from under you and you are swinging through the air.  You hit the side of the ship, your whole body and face smash against the rough cargo net.  You are being pulled up, scraping against the cargo net, but in a few seconds, you are being pulled over the rail to safety.
Aboard the Greeley, a couple of nurses lead you to a room; WARM soapy water hits your face washing away the oil.    The nurses give you a checkup; you are given dry cloths, a blanket and are whisked away to the sick bay for the Doc to check you over.
         This scene is repeated for the next three hours with all 44 being put onboard the two rescue vessels.    The captain, Kurt Carlson, has elected to stay with his ship.    There begins one of the great epics of the sea, as the ship is the Flying Enterprise and what happens next will be one of the great stories of the sea.    Of the rescued crew and passengers, one woman dies of injuries when she was slammed back into the ship when she jumped.  The Greeley looses two boats that capsized and one that is smashed against the hull, but all the crews are saved.    The Southland also losses a boat capsized and one smashed, again all crew are saved, a small miracle in itself. 
                                  EPILOG
         This, the Flying Enterprise saga, was the most published story of 1952.    The rescue itself was not published as the press did not arrive on the scene until the next day.  Within a few days various press outlets had a small flotilla of boats on the scene.    The ship somehow stayed afloat for days.    A crewman from a salvage tug had jumped aboard, a feat forever known as “Darcy’s leap.”    He got a tow line on and the FE was towed for several days.    Then bad weather again caused the tow to break.    The ship finally rolled to 90 degrees and Carlson and Darcy walked up the stack, stepped off and were rescued.  Yet the ship still refused to sink and finally went down 2 days later.    The rescue was on Dec. 28, the ship finally going down Jan. 10, 1952.    It was the main daily item on every radio and newspaper in the world.    The press made many speculations as to why Capt. Carlson had stubbornly stayed aboard.  Rumor was because of a secret cargo, but it was really Marine salvage laws.
         The rumors of secret cargo were soon confirmed however when the CIA mounted a salvage mission, sending divers down to the wreck.      American warships patrolled and planes were prevented from flying over the salvage operation.    It was later learned that among the cargo was $600,000 in currency, $300,000 in negotiable bonds, a large number of antique musical instruments, including a Stratavious violin.    The hot item however was several tons of Zirconium, listed as pig iron on the manifest.  This was destined for the reactor of America’s first nuclear sub, the Nautilus.
         Capt Carlson was named “Man of the year” by Time magazine.  Of the many news articles written about this the only mention of the rescue in most was, “The passengers and crew were saved.”    Ignored was the heroism of the seaman that day, with 4 lifeboats capsizing, two smashed against ships but with all hands saved.    I was helping launch the lifeboats and haul folks aboard.  So, I was a witness to the bravery of these seaman who put their lives on the line to save others, in the best traditions of the sea.
         To the best of my knowledge this was the largest rescue of personnel under the most adverse weather conditions ever and that stands to this day..
P.S.; The storm was the worst in over 100 yrs., had max winds of 97 MPH and 7 ships were lost and 29 others damaged.