Sitting in one of the life rafts that are silently drifting on the light breeze is first mate Juan Antonio Olveira Brion. He is wearing a black fleece jacket and a life vest and looks worn out and furious, as if he is the only one on the raft who understands that this adventure can end very badly for the Thunder crew. He has good reason to be concerned.
Lex Rigby thinks back to the day when a man wearing a ski mask threw a length of chain that hit the ship’s photographer Simon Ager. Could the man in the raft be “the Balaclava Man”?
There are still at least five men on board the Thunder. The ship is lying lower in the water and has begun tilting slightly towards starboard. Hammarstedt calls up the bridge of the Thunder once more.
“You have to pick up the crew from the life rafts. They are frightened and nervous,” Cataldo chides.
“We will tow them over to Bob Barker,” Hammarstedt says.
“OK. This is an emergency. You must take them on board; otherwise you are breaking the law.”
From the dinghy Hammarstedt receives word that there are three men standing on the deck of the Thunder smoking. They don’t appear to be in any hurry to abandon the sinking ship.
“The crew has been in the water for 20 minutes. Take them on board,” Cataldo continues over the radio.
“Tell him to calm down. Tell him to handle his sinking ship. Jesus Christ,” Hammarstedt exclaims.
“I’ll be the last to disembark. I am waiting for you to save the crew,” Cataldo says.
The captain of the Thunder repeats himself over and over and Hammarstedt grows more and more angry. He has had enough of the charade. The usually so even-tempered Sea Shepherd captain is on the verge of running out of patience.
“This guy’s a clown. Just theatrics.”
The young photographer Alejandra Gimeno has been Hammarstedt’s voice when he communicated with the bridge on the Thunder. Again she finds herself in the midst of a duel between the two captains, trying to navigate a storm of abusive language. It is an emergency and communication is about to break down. Gimeno is convinced that Cataldo is playing a game. He wants to keep the argument going until he is sure that the Thunder will sink to the bottom with the evidence.
“We take no one on board before the chief engineer and the captain have left the ship,” Hammarstedt says.
“You are not following procedure. If anyone else is listening to this conversation, you will be fined,” Cataldo answers.
“An hour ago you said that your ship will sink in 15 minutes. Get off the ship now,” Hammarstedt roars.
There are still only 35 people in the life rafts.
Peter Hammarstedt sees a possibility to send some of his own crew over to board the Thunder and secure evidence, but first he wants to be sure that there are no crew on the ship. Two hours remain before the Sam Simon will arrive.
“Tell him to get off the ship. It’s sinking,” Hammarstedt repeats.
“Why are you still filming? Why don’t you rescue us?” Cataldo replies.
“Tell this son of a bitch that his crew has attacked my crew. I cannot take anyone on board before everyone is in the life rafts.”
Gimeno translates everything with the exception of “son of a bitch”.
“You are at risk of being sued. This is very, very serious,” is the response from the Thunder.
“Tell him to get off his fucking boat. We can deal with this later. He is not taking this seriously.”
“OK. Bob Barker. I will send word that you are refusing to rescue us.”
“Fine. He can sue us when we get to port. This is fucking ridiculous. He needs to come on board so I can talk to him personally. This is theatrics.”
“Take care of the crew. We are professionals, we are not terrorists,” Cataldo answers.
“I am so tired of this guy. Tell him that this is the quickest rescue in maritime history. I could get his crew on in two minutes if I had to. I’m done talking on the radio unless it is an emergency.”
36
A WEIRD DREAM
THE GULF OF GUINEA, APRIL 2015
The Bob Barker’s chief engineer Erwin Vermeulen starts forming a bold plan. He wants to board the sinking Thunder. The Sea Shepherd officers are certain that the captain wants to make sure that the Thunder is so far under water that the ship can’t be saved before he gets into the life raft.
“He is not going to let anyone on. One hundred per cent,” Hammarstedt states.
“I am completely sure it’s staged. Destruction of evidence and a last ditch attempt to get off,” Vermeulen says.
“We are meeting every moral obligation we have here,” Hammarstedt maintains.
“I 100 per cent agree,” Meyerson chimes in.
“As long as we keep checking on them, it is fine. At least now we know that he’s the captain – the guy with the moustache,” Vermeulen says.
From the dinghy Lex Rigby reports that the Thunder crew is still fine, that the Indonesians are smiling, friendly and chain-smoking.
“How are they going to deal with a non-smoking ship?” Meyerson wonders.
Over the radio they can hear the captain of the Thunder speaking with someone in the life raft; he asks the person in question to make sure his bag doesn’t get wet.
“This situation is just like the Twilight Zone. If my boat was sinking, I wouldn’t be arguing about this stuff,” Hammarstedt says.
Then Sid Chakravarty calls from the Sam Simon. He has been in contact with the Nigerian authorities. They advised the Bob Barker not to let anyone come on board before there is another ship on the scene.
“Persons in distress may be armed/hostile and could use request for assistance to disrupt your
