Dodging a rogue freighter Lindsay McRory July 15, 1996 Freighter drifting our way Once out of the mangroves our days have been filled with things to do on the boat--old "to do" items as well as some new ones. The generator overheated because of a fried water impeller. No problemo; ordered three spares before I left. Oops! They sent the wrong ones. But thankfully UPS does deliver to Maria's Market. Today the tradewinds started filling in much sooner than usual. After a few hours, we noticed we were dragging both anchors. After firing up the engine, we raised both anchors and reset the CQR anchor with 150 feet of scope. The MAX anchor stayed on standby, hanging just above the waterline until we figured out where we wanted to go. At this point, a 220-foot freighter, the Valaria I that was recently resurrected from the deep, was hiding from Hurricane Bertha and decided to depart. We watched in disbelief as the freighter smashed into the side of a tugboat and carried it 200 yards before prying it loose. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Valaria I left Luperon. Everyone breathed too soon. In less than an hour the strong conditions forced the big freighter back. Once in the harbor, its engine died. The captain made an effort to steer into the mangroves but the wind grabbed and forced the Valaria I sideways to the wind. The now engineless freighter promised to wipe out a dozen boats. There was no time to raise anchors, lines had to be cut. We were on a single hook and let out more line and sailed a quick arc out of harm's way. It's difficult to convey what goes through your mind when you see a huge ship bearing down on you, completely out of control. Not a time for indecisiveness. The next four hours were complete pandemonium. As she drifted toward the boats, the freighter dropped an anchor. But the crew forgot to secure the bitter end and the whole thing pulled out. Next they found a "volunteer" to jump 40 feet off the bow with a three-inch line. I can only guess the intent was to swim to the mangroves and tie off. It looked more like a controlled drowning; the poor volunteer could not tread water, let alone swim with all the heavy line. A fast dinghy picked him up and carried him into the mangroves. It didn't work. Valaria I came barreling straight for six boats. I doubt that we'll ever see so many people move so quickly again. The path of the freighter was soon peppered with boat fenders bobbing in the water, marking the place where an anchor was abandoned in a hasty retreat. Traveler, meet Valaria I There were still three boats having difficulty clearing out. Hey Driver was the first to get hit, but it was only a glancing blow. They cut their last anchor in the nick of time. Poulin and Traveler both got creamed. The freighter hit and carried both boats up on a shallow bank. Everything stopped dead for a minute. A dozen dinghies were quickly at the scene, attempting to rescue both boats. There were cruisers and fishermen trying to pull Poulin away. Both groups worked frantically, but there must have been something lost in the communications between cruisers and fishermen. It was almost like watching the Three Stooges. Boats were pulling when they should have been pushing. A transom was ripped right out of a dinghy. Two outboard motors were added to the anchor collection at the bottom, but were later retrieved. Poulin was pulled free with a lot of coaxing. Traveler in the squeeze. The freighter was pushing her further and further underneath. It was only a matter of time before Traveler would be crushed to bits. Traveler's two anchors were stuck hard under Valaria I and were sacrificed. The crew on Valaria I used the crane to raise Traveler enough so she could be pulled into deeper water. It was a narrow escape. One of the lessons we all learned today was the importance of being able to abandon your anchors quickly. Odds of getting whacked by a freighter are slim, but another cruising boat could be dragging toward you. In fact, there are many situations where we might need to cut free of our ground tackle. The problem Traveler and Hey Driver had was with their all-chain rodes. The bitter end of the chain is usually shackled somewhere in the anchor locker. Chain is hard to cut. Our solution was to tie the bitter end of our chain to 15 feet of rope and tie the rope to a pad-eye in the chain locker. If we have to blow out of Dodge in a hurry, I let out all the chain, then the rope comes out and gets cut. With all this excitement, we still haven't done much exploring of Luperon. It's a very poor city and there are no tourist facilities here. The people are very friendly and helpful. And despite the poverty, there are no begging packs of kids hounding you. There are lots of dock boys to help if you want, but you go to them first. Crime is not a big problem here, either. It happens, but it's a lot safer than Florida.