For the Want of a Pill
July 23 - Nuku Hiva, Marquesas
Don't try to tell John and Kelly Harrows
how bad your ocean crossing was, because theirs was worse. Much
worse. Things went so wrong for the Aussie couple that it was
almost anti-climatic when their badly-damaged 47-ft ketch Fingolfin
had to be set adrift while they were rushed to a hospital
in the Marquesas. The good news is that thanks to the help of
many people, including amateur radio operators from many parts
of the world, they are both recovering.
As best we can piece the story together
from several sources, Fingolfin was 680 miles north of
Nuku Hiva on June 25, having left Mexico for the Marquesas some
30 days before. Usually it's about a three-week trip for a 47-footer,
but the Harrows had experienced mostly light winds and the trip
was taking much longer than expected. At this time the couple,
who aren't amateur radio operators, managed to contact a station
in Queensland to report that John had run out of the pain medication
he needed to treat a medical condition. They thought he'd brought
a sufficient supply, but due to the unexpected length of the
trip, he'd run out. As a result, he was experiencing debilitating
head pain and could no longer help with the running of the boat.
With sailing not really being an option because of light winds,
the fact they were down to 50 gallons of fuel was a concern.
Soon a ham operator in Texas contacted
the Coast Guard in Honolulu, which diverted the Irene Logo,
a Greek container ship, to rendezvous with the Fingolfin
and transfer some medication. But things went from bad to worse
during the transfer. The two vessels collided, injuring Kelly
and badly damaging the boat - particularly the masts. Furthermore,
they'd been given the wrong medication! For whatever reason,
the ship continued on.
That evening a radio operator in San Diego
reported getting a call from Steven aboard the vessel Windrunner,
who reported that Fingolfin was requesting assistance.
The information was passed on to the Coast Guard in San Diego,
but there was no propagation into the Pacific, so contact with
Fingolfin was temporarily cut off.
By about midnight, the propagation was
good again, so radio operator John N6JRD, on his boat in the
Pacific, relayed information from Fingolfin to Bob KA6LSL
in Yuma, Arizona, who relayed it to another station, who relayed
it to the Coast Guard in Honolulu. John and Kelly's family in
Australia were also advised of the situation, as was the French
Navy in Tahiti.
The news from Fingolfin was that
John was still in extreme pain, dehydrated, and unable to run
the vessel. An exhausted Kelly wasn't any better. She was at
least as dehydrated, having been unable to keep any fluids down
for three days. Plus, a serious hip and/or leg injury during
the collision with the ship had left her in pain and unable to
put weight on one leg. So she couldn't really run the vessel
either. Nevertheless, the two of them did manage to get their
ketch motoring toward the Marquesas at four knots. But even if
they had enough fuel, it would take them more than four days
to reach land.
A couple of hours later, a ham operator
was able to patch Fingolfin through to Dr. Jim Hirschman
of Miami, also a ham operator. The doctor's best diagnosis was
that Kelly had probably suffered a broken leg and/or pelvis,
and needed to be restrained to relieve the pain caused by the
boat's motion. There was nothing that could be done for John
who, it was learned for the first time, had been without his
pain medication for 72 hours. Since both John and Kelly were
dehydrated in addition to their other serious medical problems,
it was decided they both needed to be evacuated to a hospital
as quickly as possible.
A few hours later the French patrol vessel
La Tapageuse advised that she was underway to Fingolfin's
last known position, but wouldn't arrive for at least 30 hours.
Things would become even worse on Fingolfin in the interim.
A short time later, Fingolfin reported she had begun taking
on water! The pumps were working, but the cause of the leak was
unknown.
It was about this time that Gary aboard
Amadon Light - who had been so instrumental in helping
Mike Harker of Wanderlust after his rudder had broken
on the way from Tahiti to Hawaii - managed to get in contact
with Fingolfin. John told Gary they were being slapped
around a lot. Kelly reported the spreaders had failed, and she
feared that the masts would come down as they were wallowing
in a sea. At least they were able to keep up with the water leaking
into the boat, and if it got worse, they did have a liferaft.
Both John and Kelly continued to be in bad medical shape.
On June 27, Fingolfin reported one
of their masts had come down - and there were unusually bad ramifications.
When the mast fell, it struck the liferaft, rendering it useless.
In addition, the antenna on the broken mast was about to go overboard.
However, John and Kelly were still able
to make contact with Gary. They reported having become demoralized
and desperate about their situation. Gary spoke to the couple
about somewhat similar experiences he'd been through, and basically
gave them a pep-talk. This reportedly did a terrific job of lifting
their spirits.
Then the other mast fell over! Fortunately,
this was the last of the really bad news. A short time later
La Tapageuse reported they had reached Fingolfin
and had taken John and Kelly aboard. The badly-damaged ketch
was then set adrift. The French rescue vessel reported they expected
to have the couple in a hospital in Nuku Hiva 34 hours later.
On June 29, four days after initiating
the distress message, John and Kelly were admitted to the Nuku
Hiva hospital. On July 2, the Tahiti Rescue Coordination Center
reported both John and Kelly were out of the hospital, and presumably
doing much better.
There are a number of lessons to be drawn
from the incident, perhaps the biggest of which is that boats
are rarely lost because of one big problem, but rather because
of several small ones leading to progressively bigger ones. In
this case, everything started as a result of the skipper running
out of a medication.
The incident also demonstrates the importance
of being able to communicate with the outside world during emergencies.
Thanks to the many amateur radio operators, John and Kelly were
often able to have a link between themselves on the boat and
shore. A satphone such as those marketed by Iridium, however,
would have provided constant communication.
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