The “Wyvern” just before it sank, taken by the Swedish helicopter rescue crew. PHOTO: Sjöfartverket
In a tragic twist, the engineer from the Dutch topsail schooner Wylde Swan is presumed to have drowned while attempting to assist the sinking Norwegian ketch Wyvern.
When the Wyvern began taking on water while sailing in the Baltic in the Tall Ships Races 2013 from Aarhus to Helsinki, she requested assistance from other vessels in the fleet. The Dutch topsail schooner Wylde Swan dispatched three crew members including the vessel’s engineer, Koen van Gogh, with a bilge pump to Wyvern in hopes of slowing the flooding on the historical ketch. The ten person crew aboard the Wyvern were successfully rescued but only two of the three crew from the Wylde Swan returned. The engineer, Koen van Gogh, is presumed to have drowned when the Wyvern sank on Thursday morning.