The TracyJon was a stern trawler that got into trouble in a severe storm.
The TracyJon was 150 miles off the West Coast when the ice in her hold started
to shift in the mountainous seas. There was barely time to radio an
SOS before she keeled over. The Captain and Chief Engineer were trapped
aboard and went down with her. The chief officer, second engineer and
12 Zulu crewmen managed to get aboard an inflatable liferaft. But only after
Ben Shaka, a greaser, had in desperation bitten through a 1/4 inch nylon rope
to free the raft.
For 17 hours the survivors tossed about the stormy seas. Many times
search aircraft flew over them but failed to see them, or the flares they
fired, due to the stormy conditions.
Meanwhile R31, under the command of Captain Roger Green was heading toward
the area. He had discounted the position given in the
SOS and was steering a course calculated to put the crashboat in the area
after which he would perform a box search. By a stroke of luck the course
he had chosen brought them almost head-on to the liferaft.
If he had chosen a bearing toward the given position they would have missed
the raft by many miles.
R31 - just after transfer to the Navy.
"A beautiful sight"
First Officer George Scott describes the rescue: "The seas were enormous
and icy cold. The raft plunged and rose and the men inside it slammed into
one another all the time. Waves constantly broke right over us. We tried to
attract aircraft all day. One flew almost overhead but did not see us.
We fired off 11 of our emergency flares at these aircraft. None were seen.
We decided to save our last flare. I tied my shirt to an oar and waved
that instead. Still we were not seen. Then out of the foaming spray came
the Crashboat. I think it was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen in
my life."
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