Montclair seniors captivated by the history of a shipwreck
An interesting talk was presented by a maritime attorney, Andrew Pike, who was one of the people who was investigating the sinking of the Oceanos Passenger cruiser that sank off the wild coast.
At the September meeting of the Montclair Senior Citizens Club, Dan Couzens from Turning Point Church did the devotions.
He made members aware that they all need to change their mindsets. There is so much negativity, crime and negative talk which just leads to more negativity. They need to change and rather concentrate and look for positives and in doing so they can change the world.
An interesting talk was presented by a maritime attorney, Andrew Pike, who was one of the people who was investigating the sinking of the Oceanos Passenger cruiser that sank off the wild coast. The ship was built in 1953 as a cargo ship travelling between France and Madagascar. Eventually its name was changed and converted to a passenger ship which was bought by a Greek family doing cruises in the Mediteranean and the Caribean. In 1991, it was chartered by TFC Tours doing tours and charters. They organised the entertainers for the passengers travelling between Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius.
The ship was chartered for two days by a wealthy businessman for his daughters’ wedding in East London.
There was bad weather and heavy seas, they even had a threat that there was a bomb in their wedding cake and the ship returned to harbour to enable police to search the ship. The cruise ship picked up their cruise passengers and the liners departure was delayed a few hours due to bad weather. Eventually the ship set sail. During dinner the plates were falling all over due to the ship rolling in the high seas. There was a bad smell as the sewage system became blocked.
There was a loud noise and water started gushing into the hull as the sea chest which kept the water to cool the generators popped off. Andrew Pike then described the events and the rescue of all the passengers who were abandoned by the Greek crew. Thankfully there were no deaths or major casualties during the rescue operation.
Andrew Pike has written a book on the rescue, as he was involved with the maritime investigation. The book ‘Against all odds’ describes the statements made during interviewing various people with regard to the sinking and rescue operation. This is now available at Bargain Books and will definitely make interesting reading.
Some scarves, beanies and mugs were donated by club members to Janet Burgers of the sailor society. The next meeting takes place on Thursday, 10 October.
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