N.Z. girl lost, five-day ordeal for 16 after waves sink schooner

Press, 1 March 1982, Page 1

N.Z. girl lost, five-day ordeal for 16 after waves sink schooner

PA Wellington Two flares and the pale beam of a small torch yesterday ended a five-day ordeal at sea for 12 men and four women in two liferafts.

They had survived the sudden sinking of the 37m topsail schooner Sofia in stormtossed seas on Tuesday morning. The flares and the torchbeam were spotted by a lookout aboard the Russian

refrigerated transporter Vassiliiperov. A New Zealand jgirl died when the schooner' sank in 800 fathoms after being hit by two huge waves within 30 seconds about 2.30 a'.m. on Tuesday. The Sofia’s skipper, Ameri-can-born Captain Evan Logan, speaking from the Vassiliiperov by radio-telephone, said that the schooner sank about 35 kilometres off North Cape. The schooner had been pounded by heavy seas and gale-force winds for about six hours, he said. The crew was on deck , changing sails when the first of the waves crashed over the Sofia's bows. The schooner was listing heavily at the time and when the second wave hit she had taken too much water to recover and went down in seconds. Captain Logan said it was only 20 minutes from the end that he realised the ship was in serious trouble. The crew reacted magnificently, he said. The sail change was almost complete when time simply ran out. “I can remember thinking, ‘This is it’ and we went down,” he said. “Then I was shining a torch about in the water, looking for my crew." He could not recall much about what happened immediately after the sinking. The crew were all within about 18 metres of one another and managed to man the two liferafts they had put into the water.

One girl was lost, however. She was a New Zealander, but he preferred not to have her name published until he could get in touch with her parents. The crew, which had an average age of about 25. split into two groups of eight to each of the-liferafts, one of which was severely dam- ■ aged. During their time on the ■ water the survivors saw a number of fishing vessels and three ships, but their distress signals went • unanswered.

They had only a small torch and two red pinpoint flares left after five days. Captain Logan said that the crew spotted the light of what they later discovered was the Vassiliiperov to the north-east during the night. They shone their small torch into the air and it was apparently read by the Russian lookout as the light of a fishing vessel. Captain Logan said that the crew was not hopeful when the vessel was sighted,

but they fired one of their two remaining . flares and saw the vessel alter course. She was bearing down on them when they fired the last flare. Captain Logan said that it was hard to describe his emotions as the Russian vessel drew alongside and threw over boarding ladders. “I can't describe my emotions." he said. “It is one of the most amazing things to see everything you have, your whole lifestyle, virtually wiped. There was no anger, no sorrow, nothing to do but watch it happen ..."

He estimated the value of the Swedish-built 60-year-old, 1000-tonne schooner at $200,000 “if you were to sell it today."

“But that is only half the story," he said. “We lost everything we have ... and the schooner ... she was a phenomenon of maritime heritage." Several thousand dollars in cash went down with the Sofia and the crew now had only the clothes they were wearing. Captain Logan said that the survivors were suffering from exposure, dehydration, and minor sores. Generally they were in good condition.

He- said that the survival kit in one of the liferafts was partly destroyed in the launching and they had only enough rations "for 10 people for three days.' “We rationed it to last for 16 people for two weeks," he

*said. “We figured by that time if... we had not been -found they would start to search for us." Each . survivor had one meal a day of 15 millilitres of water, a small survival biscuit, and glucose tablets equivalent to two cubes of sugar. Captain Logan said that the crew of the Vassiliiperov were magnificent. The Russian ship is due in Wellington at 9 a.m. today to pick up a licence to load the catch of the Russian fleet working off the coast of New Zealand. The Sofia sailed from Nelson for New Plymouth about two weeks ago and left New Plymouth at noon eight days ago for Auckland. A police spokesman said that there was uncertainty about the nationality of those aboard, but reports from Nelson said that they included eight New Zealanders, five Americans, and one Englishman. These reports said that the schooner had taken on what were described as a “number of hitch-hikers" from the Nelson area for the voyage. Captain Logan, a partowner of the schooner, said in New Plymouth that when, the ship reached Auckland she would ' possibly undergo structural changes for use in a film. "Savage Island," to be made by a joint Anglo-New Zealand’ company. Oasis Films.

The film was to be based on piracy in the South Pacific and to be filmed in the islands.

Captain Logan told reporters in New Plymouth that the ship had become cooperatively owned 12 years ago. He had bought his share about seven years ago, when the vessel was at Nelson. A year after he bought into the schooner she went on ' a five-year voya’ge round 20 countries. Captain Logan said that he. became master of the vessel three years ago.

Nelson sailors described the Sofia as an extremely graceful boat with a long history of sailing adventure.

While the schooner was at New Plymouth. Captain Logan said that decisions on her were made in a democratic manner. Each crew

member paid $3600 for a share, which made them part-owners and entitled them to sail indefinitely in the vessel. He said that the schooner normally had a crew of 15 part-owners, but that there was then a regular crew of only 12. Crew members were not paid wages and had to contribute to the cost of the ship's maintenance and food supplies. “We spend about $30,000 a year, and about 40 per cent of this amount goes on food," he said. Also in the ship when she sailed from New Plymouth was her mascot, a coatimundi, named Varmit. Varmit joined the schooner when she visited Costa Rica nine years ago. Captain Logan said that the coatimundi joined the schooner as part of a pack-age-deal trade which included a stove and bananas.