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| Japie Greeff Photo: Keri Harvey – www.keri-harvey.com |
On a densely wooded sand dune, the Cape St Lucia
Lighthouse rises 113 metres above the sea. Erected in 1906, it is one of the oldest
lighthouses on the Zululand
Coast
Reinforced yet again, is the all-important
role of manned Lighthouses and the enormous contribution Keepers have made to
the safety of all those at sea. Japie’s
recollection involves the loss of the Jolly
Rubino whilst stationed at Cape St Lucia Lighthouse.
The Jolly Rubino
was a 31,262 tonne deadweight Italian-flagged Ro-Ro vessel, which caught fire
off Richards Bay Durban to Mombasa
“On 11th
September 2002, my wife and I were watching the TV, when news came of a
ship on fire just off Richards
Bay
The next morning I was
pumping fuel for the generators when my wife called me and said that the Port
Captain was on the phone and wanted to talk to me urgently. I rushed to the
phone and the Port Captain told me to be on the lookout for this Italian ship
and to closely monitor her movements, because she was drifting in the direction
of the Lighthouse!
With a huge smile on my
face, I turned to my wife and said to her that she owed me an apology, because
the ship was drifting to the Lighthouse! I finished pumping fuel and at 10
o’clock I began to monitor the ship’s movements.
During the course of the night and in stormy weather, the
Master, Officers and crew of Jolly Rubino,
were airlifted off the ship, but unfortunately the ship’s dog was nowhere to be
found.
People began visiting the
Lighthouse, interested to see what would happen to the ship, which, by this
time, was heading for the beach, just north-east of the Lighthouse, where she
later ran aground in adverse weather conditions.
The next morning, the
salvage tug Wolraad Woltemade arrived
and salvage arrangements were being made. Jolly
Rubino’s position was being monitored by the Anchor Handler ‘Pentow
Service’ and the oil pollution abatement vessel Kuswag I, remained in the vicinity. 'Kuswag VII' the oil pollution
patrol aircraft, regularly flew over the scene.
SMIT Salvage was awarded the salvage contract and I
became good friends with the team. It was at this time that my son had just
finished high school and the salvage company offered him some casual
employment. It was thrilling for him as he and the team were airlifted by
helicopter from Richards
Bay
My wife, our two daughters and I, watched his
helicopter fly past the Lighthouse and hover above the ship to offload the
team. Suddenly, a heavy duty sack or sugar bag came loose and hit the tail rotor
of the helicopter and the helicopter fell onto the deck of the Jolly Rubino and burst into flames!
My wife and daughters were in tears and screaming at
me to do something. I immediately reached for the phone and contacted the SMIT
team, who urgently contacted a standby helicopter and within 25 minutes all the
team members were rescued and flown to hospital. It was a miracle that there were no fatalities
that day.
The suddenness and seriousness of that situation made
us realise how short life is and how much all of us take it for granted.”
Undoubtedly, due to the co-ordinated and speedy
response to the vessel’s crisis by all parties acting cohesively, potential huge
environmental damage was avoided.
Footnote:
News Report - 16 September
2002:
Burnt Bella gets
shipshape
The ship’s dog was rescued from the burning Jolly
Rubino on Friday by the Smit Salvage Team and is under veterinary care and doing
well.
Bella (Italian for "beautiful"), as she is
now known, had badly burnt paws and the Veterinarian treating
Bella, said that it was a miracle she had not suffocated from the smoke. Staff
had washed oil and diesel from her body.
Bella, whose real name was
said to be Chicca, was sent back to her homeland and owners, on the sister ship
Jolly Esmeraldo,
some several weeks later once she had recovered.
A series by Suzanne-Jo Leff Patterson
October 2015
2 comments:
Wow! So glad Chicca made it home. Thank you for the thrilling post. Andrew
Thanks for the comment, Andrew, glad you enjoyed the post!
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