My job was to help the passengers in case of an emergency and to help them in wearing the life jackets. I could not distinguish between the starboard and a blackboard. A boatman at the "Hansa" explained it to me this way: The ‘Moses’, that is the newcomer had caused trouble and has to go and report to the Captain. The ‘Moses’ stands before the Captain and tries to explain to him about his misfortune. But this time it was a terrible thing and the Captain became angry and gives the poor ‘Moses’ a hefty slap in the face. The Captain gave him a slap with his right hand.
So the left cheek of the ‘Moses’ becomes red. And thus the left side is red and is called "port side". For and on the right, there is then only green and thus the "Starboard". The "Starboard" is a different story. This is also from the English seafaring and has to do something with the port-side, that is, the harbor side. Since then I know where the port and the starboard is. It sounds complicated for landlubbers but it is part of the day-to-day life for seafarers.
The whole ship was also put to test very thoroughly by the English Maritime Offices. Even the lifeboats were left on the water; the life jackets were taken to the stations meant for them and were checked again. I managed to take a life jacket to my cabin - you never know! As my mother always said: “Wasser hat keine Balken”. (You can't walk on water). Finally, the shipyard work was done and the Captain, or better said, the ship, had the "SOLAS"- the "Safety of Life at Sea" certificate. "Lloyds Shipping" also had issued a document, which confirmed the safety of the "Lakonia". On December 19, 1963 we were between "Queen Elizabeth" and "Queen Mary" at the pier, with all the masts decked out with flags and the "Blaue Peter" was set. The "Lakonia" with her completely white outfit appeared as if she had been molded with powdered sugar. She did not have to feel ashamed to be between the two queens and was prepared to set out on her 18th trip. The passengers on board were full of expectations and we saw their pale faces. The passengers were to have a nice life on board for eleven days. We, the crew, would take care of that. The orchestra on deck played the song "Muss i denn zum" during every departure. This became a Christmas and a New Year's song during this time.
The shipping company had made special efforts and did not spare any expenses especially with only the best of everything and with enough supplies of it. Champagne, lobster and caviar, not to forget the other delicacies. The brochures in England stated that no one would forget this trip up to the end of their lives. Later, this advertising slogan was doomed to confirm this! We were more than a thousand people on board. Our first stop was to be at Madeira, then the Canary Islands - Christmas in Tenerife and New Year on the island of Gran Canaria. After that it was back to Southampton. Eleven unforgettable days on a beautiful ship.
It was three days after we had left Madeira and were on the way to Tenerife. It was busier than ever in the kitchen because there was a gala dinner before Christmas; the patisserie had also prepared a lot already.
128 Dead and the end of a "fine lady"
It was the evening of the 22nd of December 1963 - on the day exactly one month after Kennedy's assassination and one year after I had met the Beatles at the Star Klub. A huge Christmas tree dazzled in its most beautiful adornment of tinsel and colorful lights. There was a fantastic atmosphere in the ballroom and you could hear the band up to the kitchen deck. There was dancing, eating and drinking. The buffet had the finest of the finest that night. Nothing was missing. It was closing time for the kitchen and service staff and everybody was happy to have survived the day. The battle was over and the guests had won once again. The kitchen was cleaned up and the trash disappeared into the sea. The preparations for the next day were already ready and waiting for the morning. I still didn't have the after-work mood in my cabin and so I went o the mess deck once again to take a breath of the beautiful fresh air. Since it was already a little bit chilly, I was wearing my long jeans and a windbreaker. Actually I wanted to write a letter and my Christmas greetings to my parents but I postponed it to the next day. The main thing was that I send the letter from Tenerife otherwise it would perhaps reach my parents only at Easter.
But my parents had to do without my Christmas greetings this year because it was not possible any more to get it onto paper this year. Although it was already very late, other colleagues were there too, who were standing and sitting, who probably also couldn’t sleep. One had to simply enjoy the clear sky, the bright stars and the light breeze coming from the port side. The slight vibration of the machine rocked a person into a safe and secure state. You had the feeling that these many thousand horsepower could not be constrained in the belly of the ship. In fact, I was supposed to go to my berth because the next was going to be a tough day again. We had to prepare a lot for the Christmas Eve dinner.
What would my parents have for the Christmas dinner? I was sure that there would be sausages with Sauerkraut and slices of mixed wheat and rye bread on their plates on the 24th, that is the Christmas Eve; or if Mother was especially in a good mood she set to work and prepared a potato salad of a very special class. Boiled potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, meat sausages, pickled gherkins, braised bacon, onions and some garlic were diced into small cubes, really small ones. Then it was seasoned and some homemade mayonnaise was added to it and everything was mixed together slightly. It was accompanied by hot Wiener or Frankfurter sausages, which I thought were more delicious since they were smoked.
Sunk in my thoughts, I suddenly became aware of the fire signal. Oh man - nothing could be worse for the people on the bridge than to start a fire drill after such a busy day. May be an officer or even the Captain wanted to impress some passengers and show the power he had over the ship and the crew.
This was probably true to the motto: the crew could be commanded at any time. But then the voice of the Captain came over the loudspeakers that this was not a drill, it was an emergency and everyone was to go to his fire station. This announcement was made again and again and in Greek, not in English. They did not want to frighten the passengers. I understood that much Greek. And those who didn’t understand the words, noticed it soon by the tone of the announcement or by the hustle and bustle of the Greek crew that something extraordinary was going on. Ever since I on the "Lakonia", there had not been any night drill yet and so something must have really happened and I had to go to my station. I knew that the Captain himself went to each individual station personally to make sure that everyone was at his post.
I ran as quickly as possible down the ladder-way and then up the next steps and reached my fire station. The shrill bell rang again and the voice from the speaker articulated but this time also in English. All crew members were to remain in their stations and wait for more instructions. The Greeks from the engine room and the deck whom I encountered could not tell me what was really going on. My job was to close this heavy steel bulkhead manually. In order to do that, I had to take a crank from the wall mount and insert it in the opening meant for it and turn it in the clockwise direction until it was fully closed. It was a very simple task with an enormous effect. There were quite a number of such steel doors, that is, bulkheads, on the ship, and when they were closed, the purpose of this was that the ship was divided into individual segments and water or fire did not have any chance to spread.
But it also had the disadvantage that anyone who was still in the closed compartment possibly would not be able to come out. But here my door had a different problem: My door did not move an inch. I tried again and again to turn my crank but the door did not budge even one millimeter. Close to desperation, I examined why this was so. The result terrified me! The door had a type of toothed wheel. There was a bar on the floor and at the top part of the door, in which there were the necessary teeth to close the door. By turning the crank, normally the toothed wheel moved, caught the teeth and the door closed. But I saw that the mechanics could not work because toothed wheels, which were so important and the bar were pasted together with paint. The seafarers, who were responsible for the beautiful appearance of the "Lakonia", had a
pplied paint again and again till the toothed-wheels were completely filled.
The whole ship was always painted only in white, on the inside as well as from the outside and it “took revenge” now! If we were to really have a fire on board, then it was goodbye! The several layers of paint would make a good fodder for the fire.
The command was given again that the crew were to remain at their posts. The passengers were requested to go to their “Meeting Points” without panicking, to put on the life jackets that were distributed. What should I do here below? It was pointless to wait here. It was best to go up to wait for further orders. Perhaps I was needed in a different location. So I tried to come through to the upper decks, which turned out to be very difficult because some of those bulkheads were really closed, so I had to walk back again in order to move ahead. So sometimes I had to walk back to progress onward.
I met a Deck Officer, who knew about the dilemma of the bulkheads and who gave us, who didn’t know exactly what to do, advice on what was to be done and that was to go to the boat deck and to take up our emergency positions. I had the task of helping the passengers and taking care of them here.
The “Lakonia" was equipped with 24 lifeboats and these could accommodate 1500 people. This calculation was relevant of course only if the ship did not have any heavy angle of lists and if all the boots could be let into the water. But if the ship has a very strong angle of list, you could bring only half of the people to the water. My station was near boat number 9, which was quite far at the back. This meant that I didn't have to go far but could pass the kitchen to go up. There was three times more of chaos in the kitchen. Kitchen staff, sailors, machine operators and passengers tried to tuck in as much as possible into their pockets. They helped themselves from the provisions, which were meant for the next day. Did these people only have food in their minds? There were other problems, which had not yet entered the minds of some of these people – maybe it was better that way. The reason was that now panic had spread throughout the ship meanwhile. The situation became much worse because now the smoke came through the passages and caused more agitation among the passengers as well as among some crew members.
The voice from the speaker informed again and again that there was enough room in the boats and that all could climb into the boats only with a cautious approach without panic. The instinct of a person is arguably stronger than reason. People in panic do not respond calmly because everyone wants to be first, even if they don't know where they want to go. The message that fire has broken out on the ship did not make it easier to control the people.
Almost all the passengers were English and the crew were Greek except for the kitchen staff and the service staff. The Greek did not speak English, so it was necessary for the service staff to give commands to the passengers. The officers were trying to make their voice heard with whistles but it was pointless. The confusion kept on increasing. Meanwhile I had arrived on my deck and I tried to drown the voices of the others with my voice. The lifeboats were all still hanging in their Davids and the seafarers were busy removing the covers.
As if out of their senses, the passengers rushed to the hanging boats, which were not yet untied. There too many passengers in one boat. No one responded to the order that some of them should get down and so this error took the first group to their death in the waters. The seafarers did what they had to do to the winches. They lifted up the boat over the ship’s edge to be able to let it down. Either the mallion of the boat’s suspension or the ropes, with which the boat hung on the Davids, broke. One side of the boat lost the support and it tilted downwards. The other side held and as a result the boat tilted forward and all the people fell into the water. The stern of the boat was still attached to a David. A cry of terror came from the throats of the people standing around and after that it became totally quiet and then again there was a cry of fear and confusion among the people who were now jostling each other. Some of the women were in evening gowns or had their bathrobes wrapped around. The men shoved one another and tried to get a better position in the boats. Some of them tried to reach up to the ship’s side through the hanging rope ladders or just through the simple ropes. On the other hand, others just jumped overboard in panic because they could not trust the boats any more. But that was a fatal error as well!
The life jackets were known on board as neck-breakers because they were made of thick cork-board designed like waistcoats. If you jumped into the water from such a height, these life jackets pushed you down and slammed you under your chin. This impact would lift your head up backwards with force and break your neck, in the process. You would have to have the life jack in your hands and then spring, but no one had explained this type of lifesaving technique to the passengers. It was sad to see how many people had to die. This was crazy and unnecessary! I could not prevent this. Meanwhile almost all the boats were in the water and almost all the people were overboard. But this did not mean that all were saved. I saw some of them in the water below, who tried to climb onto a boat or to hold on to a boat. Some lifeless bodies could also be seen.
The “Lakonia" now had quite a noticeable angle of list and the fire spread. Some of the crew tried to persuade the passengers, who were still hesitating, to go overboard, if necessary, with force. But the fire forced even these last passengers to move, whether they wanted or not. Some officers and crew-members were still on board but even we had to leave the ship, since the there was a high risk of explosion.
I had my life-jacket stored somewhere but I could not find it any more. It didn’t matter, I had to go overboard. That was the Captain’s order. The Captain now stood near us and looked very distressed. No one could take this responsibility from him; he had to bear it. Either he would make it or perish, as it was guaranteed that his ship would also go down to the bottom. I left the men – I believe all were officers – alone, climbed over the railing and on to a rope, which was fitted with thick knots, to have a better grip, and went downwards. Then I saw something, which would haunt me my life-long. This is what I saw through the porthole:
Children in the burning cabin.
Here I lay on a floating repair-raft and woke up out of my dream in a fainting-like state. I saw my entire life thus far go before me like a film. And I felt terrible. No one was near me. I had such a longing for my mother. The reality took me out of my trance-like state and signaled to me that I should concentrate. I recognized a shadow in the setting sun. A ship - it came in my direction. Was it my chance to be saved? I saw the ship now quite clearly. But did those in the ship see me too?!!
Yes - they saw me. They then fetched me and my small raft that saved my life with the help of a derrick boom on board! I noticed the African exotic lumber logs that were loaded on the deck; after that my strength left me and my world went dark.
Around midnight I woke up and it took me a long time to realize where and why I had woken up in a strange cabin. I got an overview of things and went searching for the way to the bridge because there was always someone had to be there on a ship.
An officer and a steersman were on the bridge. Someone brought me a large cup of coffee with as much sugar as I would otherwise not have taken for the whole year. The coffee tasted terrible and was as black as my soul – but strong like a gale. Judging by the language, I was probably on an Arab vessel.
Meanwhile someone had woken up the Captain and he too was now on the bridge. We spoke in English. Now it was I who had to answer many questions. They left me again at the cabin; it was a navigator’s room, in which they let me sleep. I had to tell everything once again the next day and officer recorded it on a tape. However I could not give any answers to the question as to why this accident happened on the "Lakonia". My rescuers and their ship were from Morocco, from Casablanca, where we were now headed.
As the Captain heard what had happened through our radio operator in the night of the disaster, he had changed his course. He had wanted to sail to the place of the disaster to help.
An airpla
ne had seen my raft and had given him the position. So now we would be in Casablanca on the next day.
The German Consul was waiting for me with the local authorities and questions did not cease. I love bureaucracy – but here it was bureaucracy in its perfection, in this case!
But whatever was meant to happen had to happen! On the third day I had a replaced passport, an air ticket to Frankfurt, money for a train journey to Bremerhaven and pocket money.
All hell had broken loose at the "Trans-Ozean". But I got an advance payment as a settlement. My compensation was not as high as it should have been to cover the costs of damages to my property. Just like the airlines, there is a flat rate here too, irrespective of how much loss you really have. But I had to get back my private documents such as certificates and the like, on my own.
Meanwhile I came to know through the press and phone calls what really had happened at the "Lakonia". The maritime court proceedings were yet to follow. It was definite that 1020 souls were on board but only 130 deaths had been reported. The number of people injured was still unclear. The fire was probably caused in the hair salon by sparks from a wobbly socket, which had flown to a can of hair spray, which had exploded through this. This or something similar to this is said to have happened.
However I did not want to be reminded of all this so often. I had a lot to do in the following weeks, so that I regained my balance. I often woke up at night totally soaked in my sweat because I saw the faces of the children in front of me. It was only a few seconds that got fixed in my brain and yet these few seconds were enough to torment me during many nights and to rob me of my sleep.
My Dream to Be Free Page 10