The Dutch general cargo ship Alana Evita, on a voyage from Hamburg to Avonmouth, was recently anchored in the Bristol channel off Minehead, in Somerset, UK. Rather than go ashore in Minehead, three of her personnel; a Russian, a Filipino and a Dutchman; decided to try the beer across the channel in the Welsh town of Barry. They set off on the ship’s 13′ rigid inflatable boat.
They arrived in Barry, soaking wet from the crossing, and pull the inflatable up on the beach, only to find that all the local pubs had already closed. Several news accounts describe the men as “drunken sailors,” which seems doubtful given the shuttered pubs. So, disgruntled, if not drunken, the three sailors find a hotel to spend the night.
They do not have an easy sleep as the police arrived in the early hours of the morning to tell them that their boat was on the verge of floating away on a rising tide. At 3:45 AM, the men returned to their boat and decided to go back to their ship on the other side of the channel. A dense fog had set in, they got lost and did not make it back to the Alana Evita.
When the men did not return to their ship by 7:00 AM, local authorities were alerted and an extensive search, involving a Coast Guard helicopter and five RNLI lifeboats, was launched to find the missing sailors.
By this time, however, the three men were safe, drinking tea and having breakfast. In the fog and channel currents, the boat had been carried north and came ashore on Flatholm Island, occupied by only one person – volunteer ecologist Richard Twining. Mr. Twining, who was making himself breakfast – invited them in, treated them to hot tea and warm porridge and gave them blankets to try to get them warm again.
The Penarth Daily News quotes Mr Twining: “They were very lucky we were here. We are only on the island three weeks out of four and on that fourth week, it is uninhabited. I asked the men if they would be in trouble with the captain when they got back and one very sheepishly told me ‘I am the captain’.”
Mr. Twining said “Once they were safe and secure we phoned the coastguard and then we met the RNLI rescue boat on the beach at the same time. It was a very happy ending – they were really nice guys.”
The two sailors and the captain later returned to their ship after thanking the rescuers for their kindness.
Grin, thought at first this was going to be some joke with a punch line.
Nice feel good story. Thankyou Rick, glad it had a nice ending.
Nice!
Typical Dutch!!
Great story!
Of course there was a punchline! While reading the article, you certainly didn’t expect any of the wayward sailors to have been the ship’s captain!
I certainly laughed at that!