by Eskil Engdal
As Vermeulen and Ager jump to safety in the dinghy, Broadfield runs one last time into the sinking ship. They have forgotten to take the folders they found on the bridge. Then, after 35 minutes on board, all three are about to disembark from the sinking ship.
Thousands of sailors and fishermen have been on board the solid trawler that was launched in Ulsteinvik, Norway almost 50 years ago. On the bridge of the Bob Barker they now count the draft marks on the Thunder. The ship is lying very low in the water. The end is near.
“That was the eeriest fucking thing, man, going in there,” Ager says.
On the Bob Barker the cook has cleared out some space for the fish in one of the freezers. This is highly out of the ordinary on a ship where only vegan food is served. The ship’s physician and veterinarian have prepared formaldehyde to preserve the fish so a DNA test of the carcass can be done.
When Vermeulen, Broadfield and Ager climb on board the Bob Barker, Hammarstedt welcomes them on the deck. He wants a report immediately.
“There were emergency suits lying on the bed. Suitcases packed, but left behind there. No logbooks. One computer, charts, mobile phones. They deliberately opened the hatches to let it flood. They had plenty of food on board. Chicken everywhere, even defrosting in the galley,” Vermeulen says.
“You need to type up a witness statement immediately,” Hammarstedt says.
He knows that this can be important in a potential criminal case against the Thunder. Sea Shepherd has hours of video footage, and they have recorded the communication with the Thunder’s captain, but the most important thing of all is the testimonies of the three who have been on board.
“Everything that can flood was unlocked. Only the personal fridges were locked,” Vermeulen says, and he adds: “I’m dying for a beer!”
A good deal of what they have just observed on the Thunder indicates that most of the crew on the trawler were caught off guard when the alarm went off.
“Maybe a few of the officers knew, but the crew didn’t. They had suitcases, but they left them,” Vermeulen says.
They also made another interesting discovery. Throughout the entire chase the Sea Shepherd photographer has tried to take photographs of the officers on the Thunder. As soon as somebody appeared on deck, Ager pointed his telephoto lens at them and started snapping away. The pirates have clearly done the same thing. In a drawer on the bridge they found pictures of the crew of the Bob Barker.
Hammarstedt and Vermeulen climb the steep stairway up to the bridge of the Bob Barker. There Hammarstedt takes a quick look at the take from the Thunder, which includes some cheap mobile phones.
“These look like the phones drug dealers have,” he says.
“Yeah. Expendables,” Vermeulen answers.
Hammarstedt is relieved. They have secured telephones and computer equipment that can give Interpol information about who the Thunder captain has communicated with on land. Perhaps the answer to the identity of the owner is to be found in these phones? Sea Shepherd has also documented how the officers on the Thunder have left doors and bulkheads open, thereby clearing the way for the water pouring onto the ship. And last but not least, they have secured a fish specimen. He feels certain that it is a Patagonian toothfish.
But the day is far from over. Where shall they take the crew? To Nigeria? São Tomé?
Sid Chakravarty prepares to receive the pirates on board the Sam Simon. He is concerned about how the crew of the Sam Simon will manage to deal with the pirates, who outnumber them two to one. He asks Hammarstedt if he can borrow four brawny men from the Bob Barker. What Chakravarty fears most is that the Thunder crew will try to come up onto the bridge and take control of the Sam Simon. For a moment he considers zip-tying the hands of the shipwrecked seamen.
“Sure you need that? They seem pretty quiet,” Hammarstedt says.
“I will keep that as an option when I see how the mood is,” Chakravarty says.
None of the Sea Shepherd shipmasters have ever transported prisoners at sea. They agree to proceed slowly. Chakravarty will bring the captain on board first. He will talk to him to get a feeling of the mood before he lets the rest of the crew climb on board – one by one. But what will they do when everyone is on board? Set their course for São Tomé immediately? Or should they wait until the Thunder sinks?
While Hammarstedt and Chakravarty are discussing their options, Colette Harmsen comes up onto the bridge. She has taken care of the fish.
“I had to change my shirt because I hugged a fish. I still smell,” she says.
Hammarstedt asks her to tape up the freezer and label it “do not open”.
What kind of birds were they that appeared in the sky around the Bob Barker? Meyerson doesn’t know. They look like cranes. What are they doing so far out at sea?
“They are not seabirds,” he says to Simon Ager, who has come up onto the bridge. Ager doesn’t have an answer.
“Anyway, today is the day for the two beers I have been saving,” Meyerson says.
“This show is going to be bigger than Whale Wars,” Ager answers.
“It was like the fanciest fishing boat when it was built,” Meyerson says.
Anteo Broadfield has also come up onto the bridge. He is impressed with the ship that is now slowly sinking right before their eyes.
“The hull was massive. The accommodation was sweet,” he says.
Hammarstedt is sitting in the communications room and talking with journalists. After Sea Shepherd sent out a press release, the telephone has been ringing off the hook.
On the bridge of the Bob Barker they are still struggling to absorb the day’s events.
“It is our ship now. Let’s save it and sell it to Greenpeace,” Meyerson chuckles while looking at the sad sight. “I had a dream that we would see a big black puff of smoke and then the Thunder sinking. We didn’t see the big black puff of smoke, but it is sinking, so I guess half of my dream came true. What a waste for them and for the ocean. It is a huge waste of everything to watch it end like this,” he says.
The Thunder’s stern is pitching heavily against the gentle waves, agitating the water up on the deck. The old pirate does not have a chance, the water is beating against the stern and the quarterdeck is almost at the same level as the water surface.
“There you go. Drink it down, baby,” Meyerson says.
Hammarstedt stares steadily out at the ocean.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Look what you did, Peter. Good on you,” Harmsen says.
“But the ship is still in pretty good shape. It’s worth millions. And they are still willing to do that. I can’t understand what they gain,” Vermeulen muses.
“How much trouble can they get into?” Meyerson wonders.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s too much fish to throw overboard. I don’t know,” Hammarstedt says.
“Remember that they are really out of fuel. They have nothing left. Maybe they didn’t know what to do anymore?” Vermeulen says.
“Maybe,” Hammarstedt says.
And what happens now, after the Thunder is gone? Will Interpol come to São Tomé?
“I just put out an email and said that we need immediate advice on where to take these guys, and we are waiting for a reply to that,” Hammarstedt says.
He has also asked Nigeria to send a naval vessel to escort them.
“We’ll see. Hard to do a rescue and media and a TV show, but we are getting there. I am going to see if anyone replied. You OK, Adam? I know you haven’t gotten any sleep or anything.”
“Yup. I’m fine. This is what I saved myself for. This is why I have been so lazy for four months,” Meyerson chuckles.
The crew of the Thunder have been in the rafts for more than five hours. Two life rafts are tied together with a rope. It is midday and the hot sun is beating down. Sid Chakravarty is on his way over t
o the Bob Barker for a final conversation with Hammarstedt before the pirates are taken on board the Sam Simon.
“They are going to be angry,” Colette Harmsen says.
“I know the Spanish are dangerous. Let’s hose them down with the fire hose,” Meyerson suggests.
On the bridge the telephone continues to ring. Now it’s the Australian ABC News who wants to talk to Hammarstedt, but he is in a meeting with Chakravarty. The journalist has to wait and becomes angry.
“We’ll have to schedule our sinking better next time,” Meyerson laughs as he navigates the Bob Barker closer to the Thunder so Ager and the other photographers can take the best possible pictures when the ship sinks.
On the bridge of the Bob Barker two of the crew are studying Cataldo, the Thunder’s captain, who is sitting on the side of one of the life rafts. They can see that he is still talking and gesticulating.
“He looks like such a cock,” Harmsen says.
“I wonder what his story is?” another woman on the bridge of the Bob Barker marvels.
“He looks like the guy from American History X, but with more hair,” Harmsen says, thinking of the American actor Edward Norton, in one of his most famous parts as a violent neo-Nazi in the film from 1998.
Hammarstedt and Sid Chakravarty have decided what they are going to do and Hammarstedt gives Meyerson a quick briefing: “Sam Simon is going to take on the Thunder crew. Gonna start with the captain. Sid is going to debrief him, then take on the rest. Then we are going to escort them to São Tomé,” he says.
“I have pictured this ending in a lot of different ways. This wasn’t one of them,” Meyerson replies while staring at the sinking ship.
“I’ve driven people to drink before, but I’ve never driven them to sink.”
Broadfield ponders over all the fishing gear he saw on the Thunder.
“They had enough gear to fish for a long time. A lot of nice wet weather gear,” he says to Meyerson, who is looking at the many Indonesians sitting in the life rafts.
“These guys probably had the best paid fishing job in all of Indonesia, and we ruined it for them. Crime does pay,” he says.
“I have never seen a ship sink before in real life. If anyone wants to say goodbye to the Thunder, then this is their last chance.”
When Hammarstedt returns to the bridge, he sees that water has begun to flood the deck of the Thunder. He picks up the ship’s interphone and makes an announcement for the crew of the Bob Barker.
“Attention all crew. Attention all crew. Looks like the Thunder is going down.”
Then the crew comes up onto the bridge to bid a final farewell to the ship they have been following for 110 days. At 12:52 PM, the Thunder lies down in the ocean. It is as if the hull just rears up. First, the water floods over the section furthest back on the quarterdeck, then it pounds in against the panes on the starboard side of the wheelhouse. The keel rises 80, and then 90 degrees. In a short while only two of the hawse holes are visible, like two eyes taking a final glimpse of the sky before retiring after 46 years of service. The air that is pressed out of the inside of the ship creates a column of water several metres high, like a geyser. As the front part of the bow is swallowed, the ocean turns a turquoise colour. Then the sea silently closes up around the Thunder and seals the ship’s 3.8-kilometre journey down to its grave.
Several of the Indonesians start chanting loudly, almost like football supporters encouraging their team to make one final effort: “Thunder, Thunder, Thunder.” The Spaniards are silent.
“Let’s stay clear of that little spot,” Hammarstedt says to Meyerson.
“Where did the birds go?” Meyerson asks.
“They came over to us,” someone on the bridge says.
“That was the end of the campaign,” Vermeulen states.
“We’ve been staring at that stupid boat for four months. And it is gone. I don’t even know where I’m going anymore. ’Cause all I did was follow them idiots. Now I have to navigate and choose somewhere to go. Put the radar on 12 nautical miles instead of a mile and a half,” Meyerson says.
“I don’t know what to do with my life. I feel like the Grateful Dead when Jerry died.”
“What were they thinking?” Harmsen marvels.
“They weren’t thinking, they were sinking,” Meyerson says.
37
A LAST RESORT
GULF OF GUINEA, APRIL 2015
It is no coincidence that it is the boatswain Giacomo Giorgi who is waiting to receive Captain Cataldo as he climbs up the pilot ladder and onto the low quarterdeck of the Sam Simon. The heavily tattooed and brawny Italian is the most frightening welcome the ship has to offer.
Before signing on with the Sam Simon Giorgi ended his career as a vocalist in a hard-core band by screaming “I’m not afraid today, I won’t be afraid tomorrow” at a dark, rock club in Rome. With Giorgi as head of the welcoming committee, Captain Sid Chakravarty wants to give the pirates the impression that he is completely in control.
When the entire crew of the Thunder is on board, they will be two against one. All day long he has been pondering over what he will do. Should he zip tie their hands? Lock them inside cabins? Shut them out on deck?
For the time being he wants to keep the crew on the quarterdeck and escort the three top officers – the captain, the fishing captain and the chief engineer – to separate cabins.
After Cataldo has been frisked, Chakravarty tells him that he wants to have a conversation with him.
The short and stocky captain of the Thunder with buzz-cut hair and a dark, stubby beard is dressed as if he is on his way to the nearest beach pub: a black T-shirt bearing a Heineken advert, over his right shoulder a small backpack and on his head a purple visor cap with a dragon motif and the word “Singapore” embroidered on the stiff brim.
“What about passports?” Chakravarty asks.
“Pasaporte? No. It was very, very fast,” Cataldo stutters in shaky English.
“Oh? It took six hours to sink,” Chakravarty counters.
“Very, very fast,” Cataldo repeats.
“Can I have your name?” Chakravarty asks.
“Alfonso.”
“Can you write it for me? Help me with the spelling? And can I have your date of birth and nationality, please?”
“What is date of birth?” Cataldo inquires.
Chakravarty’s Spanish interpreter comes to the rescue, and the details are scribbled down on a piece of notepaper. Then Cataldo reluctantly agrees to be escorted inside the ship to a cabin, but before he leaves, he turns to face Chakravarty and waves his arms.
“No camera. OK?”
“I cannot control the cameras,” Chakravarty responds.
That is a white lie, but the Sam Simon captain wants to document everything that takes place. Under his T-shirt he has hidden a small microphone and all of Cataldo’s outbursts are being recorded.
When he enters the cabin, the captain of the Thunder receives an unpleasant surprise. The lock on the door has been taken apart and reinstalled so it is faced the opposite way; Sea Shepherd wants to lock him inside. Cataldo emphatically insists on being escorted back onto the deck.
“Capitan, you cannot lock me inside a cabin,” he says to Chakravarty.
“Then you have to stay outdoors. I need all the passports,” Chakravarty says and asks to see the contents of Cataldo’s backpack.
“No, no. You are not the police,” he protests.
“This is Dutch law. You are on a Dutch ship,” Chakravarty answers.
“We are not terrorists. There are personal items in the bag,” Cataldo says in Spanish.
But Chakravarty does not give in. He wants above all to avoid having Cataldo establish authority on board. If the 40 pirates should decide to take over the ship, there is little the 23 Sea Shepherd activists can do. For the moment Catald
o seems most frustrated about his having been completely outsmarted, Chakravarty thinks.
“OK, OK. You can check my bag. Captain to captain,” Cataldo says.
“No cameras!”
The two captains and the interpreter go through the door leading to the workshop on the Sam Simon. While Cataldo opens the backpack, Chakravarty asks what happened to the Thunder.
“There was a ship coming and then: BOOM!”
The Sam Simon soon resembles a prison hulk. One by one the Indonesian crew climb onto the deck, some barefoot, others wrapped up in warm work jackets. They are all polite and taciturn. Some seem confused. Others are clearly relieved.
The far more dejected Spanish and Latin American officers have bags and suitcases with them in which their clothes have been neatly folded with care. In response to questions they mumble their names before moving on to line up side by side with their backs to the camera lenses.
In Cataldo’s backpack, Chakravarty has made an interesting find.
“Is this your seaman’s book? Can I have a scan of the first page?”
“No. Personal,” Cataldo replies.
The seaman’s book is a personal document in which a seaman’s history at sea is recorded. The ships he has sailed with, the length of his service time at sea, and where he has been. Chakravarty wants to know as much as possible about Cataldo and the rest of the Thunder crew and tells him that he needs the passports and ID papers of the crew to notify the authorities in São Tomé. But Chakravarty also wants to give as much information as possible to Interpol and the police, who will hopefully be waiting for them when they arrive at the port.