The Rescue of the crew of the TracyJon - 1969

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.

R31 to the rescue
R31 - just after transfer to the Navy.

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.

"A beautiful sight"

George Scott after the rescue 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."

Survivors come ashore

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