Flashback: The Ecuadorian Coast Experience

It was nearly 20 years ago when I was still working on a merchant marine vessel when I had this unforgettable experience.

Our ship was sailing from Galveston, Texas to Guayaquil, Ecuador via Panama Canal. It was supposed to be a smooth sailing after leaving the canal down to our destination port. It wa already dusk when we saw a burning ship. We reckoned our position to be in the Ecuardorian coastal area. We tried to communicate with the burning ship via VHF channel 16 but ther was no response. We checked our radar and figured out that it was a medium-sized vessel towing two very large barges. We also noticed that the two barges being towed were quite far from the boat, somewhat odd to us.

It was already dark when the Captain gave the order to lower the lifeboat. He ordered me to man the lifeboat the and approach the burning ship as close as i can and communicate with the men on board the ship if there were anyone still on board.

My adrenalin rose. I was excited and the same time scared. It was very dark, we were in the middle of an open sea, the sky was moonless, our ship and the burning ship was about a quarter of a mile apart, the sea was not calm at that time and our ship's search light could not reach the distressed ship.

I was thrilled as I was on the lifeboat being lowered. we immediately disengaged the hooks once we touched the water and headed towards the burning ship. It took me an incredible amount of courage to let go from our vessel. As I approached the side of the burning ship I could hear voices calling out in Spanish. I shouted to the men in my broken Spanish and asked them if they would abandon their ship. They refused to abandon ship. I was told that there were 44 of them on board the burning vessel. The fire broke out in the engine room and they were trying to extinguish it themselves using all means. They said their ship is a naval ship but did not specify which country and told me that the two very large barges they were towing were carrying ammunition and ordnances. They are expecting that their navy colleagues will rescue them within the next hours.

I reported to the matter to the Captain and he told me to return to our ship. The Captain entered the activity in the log book. I had a hard time falling asleep that night. The thoughts of the nights adventure still lingered in my mind but my weariness outweighed the excitement and I slowly drifted to sleep.