| Business |
Lost and found
By BIG PAT
'Lonely...a lonely little paradise
afloat on a sea of blue.'
That is an entry from an online diary. The visitor was an
itinerant bird watcher who had journeyed many miles across the
world just to see the tropical sea birds of Papua New Guinea.
On the Papua New Guinea map, it's hardly a discernable little dot
on the northern sea border, in what mariners and mapmakers later
adopted as the Saint Mathias Group.
The biggest in this group is Mussau, then Emira, both World War II
outposts for the Japanese than the Americans.
The smallest is Tench, the 'lonely lost paradise' afloat in the
Pacific Ocean, home to thousands of endemic species of seabirds
and a handful of Enis speaking inhabitants, about 50 people.
Tench is located about 100 km north of Kavieng, capital of New
Ireland province. In 1790 it was reached by Lieutenant King, who
named it Tench after Captain Watkin Tench of the Marines.
Locally known as Enus, the island is oval shaped and less than 1
km wide and famous for its sea bird colonies and rare Atoll
Starling (Aplonis feadensis), the draw card for bird lovers who
can find their way there.
For the people of the islands, getting lost at sea is part of
their seafaring lifestyle; after all, the only way to Tench is a
four hour boat ride from Kavieng.
This is the story of three young men who went missing at sea last
month and washed up in the Lihir Group, hundreds of kilometers
from home.
Had the currents swept them further east, they would have made
landfall in another Pacific kingdom.
Terence Harold, 29, Reeves Isaiah and Matthew Mark, both 24, woke
up early on the morning of Wednesday, March 7. It was 3am when
they put to sea in their 17 foot dinghy powered by a 40 horse
power Yamaha engine.
"The weather was slightly overcast. We expected it to clear by sun
up for a good day of fishing," recalled Terence.
Unfortunately for the trio, the heavens opened up and the rain got
heavy. To compound their misery, the engine spluttered and died.
"At first we could see Tench but as the rain got heavier, we could
not see our home anymore."
The men drifted the first night and by morning, far out at sea
they realised they were lost, like corkwood adrift on an open
ocean, at the mercy of the elements.
As all lost fishermen do, they checked their rations and water and
scanned the horizons.
Day two saw them under deep blue skies, afloat on an azure ocean.
It gave them a chance to work on the faulty machine. Terence had
it fixed but by then, they had lost their sense of direction.
"The horizon was endless. It was magnificent. It looked like we
were in a half bubble," young Reeves, the talkative and more
humorous of the three related.
"At that point, we hoped we could wash up on Honiara, (Solomon
Islands)." We all broke into laughter.
"Why?" I ventured. "Chance yah," he replied. "Mi laik lukim Sharzy."
In Tench, communication with the outside word is by two way radio,
and Sharzy is sometimes heard on the transistor radios, belting
out his famous 'Rainy Lae'.
Their survival ration included some cooked food, fish and a gallon
of water. The sea provided raw fish and coconuts.
"Fortunately, it rained from time to time so water came from the
sky," the funny one chuckled.
"We did not feel desperate. This was my first time, the other two
have been through it before, Terence is a survivor, he has been
lost many times, I think this was the longest he's been floating
on the sea," Reeves said.
The men saw a couple of ships, fishing vessels and some ocean
going cargo ships, but these were too far off to see them
frantically waving.
"One fishing boat saw us waving and it came towards us. It was
blue and white. It veered away about a kilometer from us. I am
sure they saw us because they were coming straight at us and we
were waving."
"But I think they were illegal fisherman," Reeves said.
The men spread a canvas and slept under it during the day. To keep
away the boredom, they told stories of the past 'lost at sea'
experiences. It was a game where Reeves did the listening.
They sang about Tench and its sea birds and when their voices
became hoarsely out of tune, they fished for their next meal.
"We got two big tuna. We dried them and that kept us going for the
week that we were afloat.
"Getting dehydrated was our biggest worry. Fortunately we had
enough water and the canvas to keep out the sun," Reeves said.
Then in the distance, they saw a peak. It was Lihir Island but the
men were optimistic they were in Solomon Island waters.
They started the engine and kept a beeline for the mountain in the
distance. It was nine hours before they made it to Masahet, the
second largest island in the Lihir Group.
"It was about 2 in the morning. We stopped by bravo two, the
contract boat. In the morning, the people who were on their way to
fish found us and told us that we were in Masahet," said Reeves.
The men were taken to the main Lihir Island where an ambulance
took them to the Lihir Medical Centre. "It was our first ever ride
in an ambulance," chuckled Reeves.
Safely ashore, the three young men are living with a relative
Daniel Alphaeus and his family in Londolovit township.
To return to Tench would require a full drum of zoom fuel and oil.
Anyone who can help the Tench Islanders can call Daniel Alphaeus
on telephone 986 4546 or email Big Pat on bigpatpng@gmail.com for
more information.
 
|
