Extraction At Sea – A True Story
You will see many films that say that they are based on a true story. This gives the Producer flexibility as to what appears in the film. This is not a story based on a true story. This is a true story.
The names have been changed but the facts are correct.
It is a story of an extraction at sea from a ferry. Some may call it an adventure. One is only able to call it an adventure following a successful conclusion. It did not seem like an adventure at the time to those involved. It was deadly serious.
Winter 2018
In late October 2018 the weather in the north of the United Kingdom was beginning to get stormy and cold. With this in mind Christopher, we will call him Chris from hereon, and his wife Julia, who are both retired, decided that they would try to get away for a short break to sunnier and warmer climes.
They decided to book a ferry from Portsmouth to Santander in Spain with Brittany Ferries.
Extraction At Sea
Tuesday 6th November 2018
The departure date was getting near and Chris and Julia travelled down to Portsmouth the previous day staying overnight in a local hotel.
All day during their journey down to Portsmouth they received at various times 3 texts on their mobile phone from the ferry company telling them that rough weather was expected.
The ship was due to sail at 08.45 hours on the morning of Tuesday 6th November 2018. Chris and Julia arrived at the port early and well in advance of the sailing time.
Just as Chris was handing over the necessary documentation another text arrived. After being directed to the waiting area Chris and Julia took a look at the text. It was also from the ferry company but this time asking people to arrive early as the sailing time had been brought forward 30 minutes and the ship would be departing at 08.15 hours.
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Change Of Destination Now Bilbao
They had already been made aware that they would no longer be going to Santander but now to Bilbao.
If you are not aware Bilbao is approximately 99 km or 60 miles east from Santander.
Bilbao being further east Chris and Julia assumed that this diversion was due to the forecast of bad weather in the Bay of Biscay coming in from the Atlantic in the west.
Chris and Julia were now more pleased than ever that they had arrived in Portsmouth a day early and also booked in early.
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Baie de Seine
The ship was the Baie de Seine and boarding and ferry departure from Portsmouth took place without incident.
After an initial exploration of the ship and seeing the safety demonstration Chris and Julia rested and slept in their cabin most of the day. It was their intention to have a meal in the restaurant together later that evening.
There were regular safety warnings about being careful when moving about the ship.
Little did Julia and Chris know at this time that later they were to be faced with one of the greatest experiences of their lives and involved in a real life extraction at sea.
Extraction At Sea
SeaSick
The further the ship travelled the heavier was the weather and Julia was feeling decidedly seasick. The way Julia felt having a meal in the restaurant was not an option.
Chris on the other hand was OK but refused point blank to leave Julia. Julia pleaded with Chris that he should go for a meal and at the same time grab a beer.
Despite having snacks with them in the cabin Julia was most insistent and assured Chris that she would be alright.
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Restaurant
Suddenly a tannoy throughout the ship announced that the restaurant would be closing in 45 minutes.
At Julia´s instance and again with an assurance from Julia that she would be alright Chris decided he would quickly grab a bite and a quick pint and be straight back.
Chris took great care in reaching the restaurant making sure he had things to hang onto. On arrival at the restaurant that there were only about 6 or 8 people there.
Chris is not sure how he did it but he managed to be served with a plated meal on a tray and somehow was able to reach a table without falling over.
Waves were now crashing into the ship and seemed more severe. Chris found that whilst eating that his plate slid one way and then the other across the table.
Some bottles and glasses fell and smashed at another table and a loud crash of crockery could be heard from the restaurant.
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The Bar
Finishing his meal Chris was then able to move to the bar which was directly next door to the restaurant.
Chris ordered a pint and the barman was able to place it on a rubber mat to stop it sliding. Again there were only 7 people in the bar at seated at tables.
Two were at a table on the right at the far end of the bar lounge with their backs to the wall, Four people on two tables in the middle and one at a table on the extreme left. Chris went to the nearest available sitting on his own which was between the left wall and the middle of the room with the two tables.
The two tables together with the four people seated around them were full of bottles and glasses.
Extraction At Sea
The Wave, Crashing Bottles and Crockery
Suddenly a wave hit the ship with a big shudder. Most of the glasses and bottles of these two middle tables ended up on the floor. Another crash could be heard in the kitchen area of the restaurant.
Both Chris and the guy sitting behind him grabbed their glasses and managed to save them as they slid to the other side of their respective tables. This other guy made some sort of a lighthearted funny joke suitable to the occasion.
Had Chris been standing he thought it unlikely that he would have been able to have remained on his feet when the wave hit.
Chris was seriously thinking about trying to get back to Julia in the cabin but decided that the safest place for him at that precise time was to stay where he was. Finish his pint and then make his way back. Or so he thought!
It was only seconds and with only two inches of beer down the glass the decision was taken out of his hands.
Extraction At Sea
Ship Tannoy Message
A message on the tannoy system asked that Chris return to his cabin.
Chris immediately thought that his wife was being sick but never expected to see the scene that was presented to him when he got there.
Struggling to return to the cabin and trying to keep his balance, not through drink, but from the waves striking the ship, Chris managed to get back to the cabin.
His thoughts were that Julia must be feeling unwell as in sick. However on arrival he found 3 or four Brittany Ferry Staff Crew members both in and outside the Cabin.
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Stemming The Blood
One of the staff members was trying to stem the blood from the back of his wife’s head.
A quick glance around the Cabin showed that both bunks left and right were covered in blood.
Ferries are not required to carry a nurse but Brittany Ferries do.
The nurse arrived and Julia was taken to the medical facility.
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When Chris Left The Cabin – What Happened Next
When Chris left the cabin Julia remained lying down safely on her bunk. However as things got more rough things started to be moved about the cabin.
There were some items on the small cabin table. Julia saw that items were moving on the table and got up to secure them before they fell off.
Fate is an incredible thing! At that precise point that she was doing this a wave hit the boat and pitched her forward off balance.
Almost immediately it pitched her backwards taking her feet off the ground and crashing her head first backwards into the wooden side edge of the bunk.
Julia does not believe that she lost consciousness but was not sure.
Extraction At Sea
The Blood
On feeling her head Julia felt a depression and then sudden wetness which she soon saw was blood.
Julia who does not swear said to herself, ´Oh shit! ´I´m in trouble here´.
Staying low Julia somehow managed to get to the bathroom and grabbed a towel to stem the blood.
Extraction At Sea
Lying Prone Through The Doorway
Dropping down Julia then crawled along the cabin floor to the door. Cabin doors on ships are extremely heavy and hard to open. They are designed this way for a purpose.
From there down on her knees somehow either thrown or dropped down to stop being pitched any more Julia crawled along the floor. Eventually she managed with a great struggle to open the cabin door and called for help.
Julia remembers whilst lying on the floor through and across the doorway seeing the legs of a woman in the corridor to her right quickly putting on trousers to presumably get help for her and raise the alarm.
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Medical Facility
On arrival at the medical facility the nurse quickly assessed the situation.
The next thing Chris saw was that the nurse was using a satellite phone. It turned out that this was to be in direct contact with a Doctor presumably somewhere in France as it is a French ship.
The Captain arrived and there was lots of activity. There was much discussion between the Captain and other members of staff as to the situation.
Chris and Julia were not immediately aware of the medical advice given but when they did know realised why there had been the discussion with Captain and staff.
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On Shore Medical Advice
It turned out that the medical advice was that Julia needed urgent medical attention and it could not wait until the ship reached Bilbao.
Apparently such injuries and the required treatment need to be dealt with in a specific required time frame.
Julia and Chris were kept fully informed of everything at every stage.
One member of staff qualified in first aid stayed with Julia the whole time from beginning to end. Julia and Chris formed a bond of friendship with this lady that still exists to this day.
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Diverting The Ship
The decision was made by the Captain to divert the ship to the nearest port.
Chris and Julia did not know where this was going to be. As far as they knew at that time they would be disembarked and the ship would continue on its journey south to Bilbao. This raised other issues and concerns.
Chris and Julia had their car on board. How would they get to Bilbao to collect the car? Would the car be safe? What would happen to the car? This was of great concern to Chris and Julia.
The staff made great efforts to calm their concerns. Obviously they had dealt with this situation before.
Julia whilst conscious was pretty much out of it. At the end of the day to hell with the car, the priority was getting Julia the medical treatment she required. Everything else could be sorted out afterwards.
The ship made a turn to the French coast and later Chris and Julia understood later that this meant that it had to turn to go back on itself.
They did not know where they were headed but some hours later they reached Brest in Northern France.
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Trying To Dock
As the ship approached land the staff offered to pack everything from the cabin. However Chris wanted to do this himself to make sure nothing was left.
Cases packed he was led to the car deck where he loaded the bags into the car.
Securing the car he surrendered the keys to the Purser for safe keeping. At this stage not knowing who would be driving the vehicle or where it would be disembarked.
By now it was it was about 01.15 hours Wednesday 7th.
Back at the Medical Facility Julia, with her head securely bandaged, was helped into a wheelchair.
Julia was being looked after by three members of staff. They were the Nurse, First Aider and the Purser. Chris accompanied them.
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Unloading Ramp
They were taken to the lower of the car loading decks. From here they were taken to the vehicle loading and unloading ramp. If you have been on a ferry you will know these are fairly steep.
All four were holding onto the wheelchair as it was taken down the ramp. To the side there was what seemed like huge articulated lorries parked at the side of the sloping roadway.
The ship continued to roll about.
As the wheelchair was taken down the ramp there was also the incessant and constant penetrating sound of an alarm going off.
On reaching the bottom Chris realized that they were already at dockside and the reason the alarm was going off was because the crew were in readiness and trying to lower the ship ramp onto the dockside.
There were just the five of them at the bottom of the roadway in a holding area.
Another two or three other staff were trying to help the captain guide the ferry to a safe landing. There may have been more but that was all that Chris could see at that time.
In that blustery stormy night Chris could feel the high wind and see through the gap between the ship and the landing stage the high waves lashing the landing area.
If was obvious that the captain was trying valiantly to moor the ship and to get the ramp lowered safely.
After several attempts of nearing the landing point it was obvious that with the waves and the storm that it was just not possible to do it with safety.
Other Options had to be considered.
Whilst this was done Julia was wheeled back up to the top of the roadway. Here they awaited further instructions from the Captain as to how Julia and Chris should be evacuated.
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The Coat
Whilst waiting they were joined by a member of the crew also taking shelter from the wind. This member of crew who joined them was a big man in overalls with a coat on top.
They waited some minutes. Certainly long enough for the penetrating cold wind to chill.
Julia had been well wrapped up but after a few minutes this crew member took his jacket off and placed it over the front of Julia for added protection and warmth.
Julia and Chris know little French and Julia with both hands grabbed his hand in thanks.
This was yet another outstanding act of kindness adding to that to which had already been shown by staff of Brittany Ferries.
Such a small gesture meant so much to Julia and Chris.
Whilst sheltering Chris and Julia did not have sight of the water and were not aware that the ship was moving.
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Behind The Scenes. Plan ´B´.
What was actually happening behind the scenes whilst they were waiting was that the Captain was manoeuvring the ship towards the relative safety of the centre of the Bay.
Chris and Julia were then informed that they were to be evacuated via the Pilot Boat. This was thought to be the safest and most practical way.
However this is not quite as straightforward or as easy as it sounds.
With Julia still in the wheelchair they were taken along the corridor to a lift and taken to still lower decks.
From here they travelled across the relevant lorry deck to the other side of the ferry. They could not tell which way the ship was facing so cannot say whether this was Port or Starboard.
As they approached they could see a number of people, officers and crew, near an opening at the side of the ship.
It was cold and blowing a strong wind and Chris and Julia could not see anything through the opening other than the darkness of the night.
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Life Jackets
Julia was helped from the wheelchair and both Chris and Julia were given life jackets.
Extraction At Sea
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