getit closed.Randolphshowedupon
thebridge.Davidsonsaid“Hi!”with
a risinginflection.Hewasobviously
pleasedtoseeherthere.
Beforelong,Davidsongotwordthat
thescuttlehadbeensecured.Butthe
shipcontinuedtolistbadly– nowto
theleft.Watermuststillbecomingin
fromsomewhere.
Then,suddenlyat6.13am,theev-
er-presenttremorsoftheship’spro-
pulsionstopped.Davidsonsaid,“I
thinkwejustlosttheplant.”Three
minutes later,the chiefengineer
called.The prob-
lemwaswithlubri-
cation-oilpressure
atthisangleoflist.
Hesaidtheywere
tryingtobringthe
enginebackonline.
Meanwhile, the
shiphadplentyof
standbypowerfor
runningthepumps
andelectrics.
It was morning twilight, and
thesceneslowlycomingintosight
wascalamitous,withhugebreak-
ing waves, churning foam and
wind-drivenrainandspray.The
hulllaybelowthebridge,takinga
poundingfromthestorm.Therewas
asoundofmultiplethudsinrapid
succession.Davidsonsaid,“That’s
whyI don’tgooutthere...That’sa
pieceofhandrail,right?”
Randolphdecidedthatthiswasthe
time to grind some gourmetcoffee.sourceofthewaterwasunknown.
ElFarohada closedsystemoftwo
interconnectedballasttanks– oneon
theleft,oneontheright– thatwere
usedtobalancetheshipduringcar-
go-loadingoperationsbymeansof
watertransfers.Davidsonordered
theengineroomtostarttransferring
waterfromthestarboardtanktothe
porttankinordertolessenthelist,
therebydistributingthefloodwaters
moreevenly.
Fiveminuteslaterthechiefengineer
rangwiththenewsthatthe source did
indeedappeartobe
anopenscuttleon
thestarboardside.
Access would be
difficultunlessthe
floodwaterscould
belowered.David-
sonsaid,“I’mgoing
toturntheshipand
getthewindonthe
starboardside,get
everythingonthestarboardside,give
usa portlist,andseeifwe’llhavea
betterlookatit.”
Itwasanaudaciousplan.Ina badly
woundedship,hewasgoingtousethe
hurricaneitselfasa toolfordamage
control.HesaidtoHamm,“Putyour
rudderleft20.”ElFarobegantoturn.
Thewindshadfurtherintensified.The
seasweremountainous.
ThehurricaneshovedElFarointo
a port-sidelist.Waterwasnowpour-
ingoutoftheopenscuttle.Whenit
stopped, members of the crew would
ITWASMORNING
TWILIGHT,AND
THESCENE
COMINGINTO
SIGHTWAS
CALAMITOUS125
Into the Teeth of a Hurricane