While being asleep, I hear a strange racket coming from outside. I do not wake up. Instead, I anticipate what will happen next. After quite a while, I feel myself somehow being picked up from the bed and being clung against the parapet. Now I am awake.

As I stand up, so many thoughts run through my mind – did the waves strike the ship? Will we drown? No, this is not possible. We are in the Magellan passage. There cannot be any waves. As I quickly walk over to the window, I have already eliminated many questions that are difficult to believe and only one possible answer remains – we have been stranded on the land. My mind is unable to accept this fact.

I am in the dark as I look out the window. It is a freezing night of August. Snowflakes as large as plums fall from the sky. I have never seen snowflakes of this size in my life. Further into the distance, I can see the outline of the land in the direction of the prow. I walk over to the next window, hoping to see clearer. It does not help. I quickly put on my jeans and a t-shirt and start walking towards the doors that lead outside. I rapidly step outside into the cold air, causing me to freeze for just a moment. Now I am definitely awake. As soon as I realize what has occurred, I race back into the ship and across one of the hallways towards the doors that lead to the ship’s engine. Suddenly, I see the chief engineer. “What happened?” I ask. Quietly, he responds, “I don’t know. I don’t know.” He stands with his head bowed down, staring at the ground, while his eyes are fixed on one object. He continues walking towards the engine control room. I can sense his fear and panic. Perhaps he understands that our ship has hit an extremely hard object; however, he refuses to consider believing the reality.
“I am going to go see what has happened,” I tell the chief engineer and leave towards the cabin to get my winter jacket. “Go, go,” he responds absent-mindedly.

On my way to the cabin, I attempt to remember everything that should be done in case of a stranding. As I am putting on my winter jacket in my cabin, I take my flashlight that I thought I would never need. I run towards the exit on the port side (left side) of the ship and step outside. While standing on ice covered with thick snow, I feel as though I am frozen. I encourage myself to continue walking. Careful, careful. By each small step, I walk closer and closer to the prow of the ship. For a moment, I think- with this speed, I’ll never get to the prow. So, I decide to lean over the left side of the ship. I am shocked to see that in the distance, the prow of the ship is stranded on the land. Now I am certain that we are stranded in the middle of nowhere, on a small island in a shape of a croissant. The only thoughts going through my mind are: I hope we do not drown. I hope we don’t die.

The temperature of the ocean is four degrees Celsius, while the outside is even colder. I feel my fingers already getting numb. I look around, hoping to see someone, but I see no one. I continue walking towards the prow. I have now become an expert in walking on ice and snow, so I accelerate my speed. When I finally reach the prow of the ship, I am at last able to clearly see what has happened. The ship has collided upwards into the land. Later on, I discovered that the speed of the ship had been 19 miles, meaning that it had collided into the dry land with full speed. Wow. It’s a miracle that the ship didn’t fall apart.

Thick snow continues to fall; however, the small island is without a touch of snow. I look around once again to see if anyone is out here, except myself. But I only see my footprints in the snow. As I look in the distance, I notice a heavy mixture of two kinds of fuel in the ocean – heavy crude oil and diesel oil. Both tanks were damaged (200 tons). I carefully turn around and begin to follow my tracks backwards to the inside of the ship.

When I enter the ship, I went to the bridge to find maps and the GPS readings. The position was 52 degrees 22.921 South and 73 degrees 40.124 minutes West. The officer is shocked and wonders in amazement, “is this really happening to me?” I see an “X” marked on the map, showing the island that we have hit. The name of the island is Bedwell. “Well, I’m surprised that the island actually has a name.” I walk towards the engine control room, and there, I find the chief engineer and other crew and I tell them what I have discovered. As I look around, there is nothing but somber faces.

https://goo.gl/maps/eTnYgisdBjDobJpz5

Above is a google map of the location.

Below is a picture of the planned route (in blue) and actual route (in red)

The vessel stranded on the island “Bedwell”

The rest of the day has been uncertain as to whether or not we may drown in the icy ocean, or survive. The following day, the amount of damage of the ship has been discovered. One of the tanks at the fore-peak is completely destroyed. Two other tanks on the other side of the ship are smashed and contain dangerously heavy fuel. My God, how will we ever get out of here? Fortunately, it is unlikely that we will drown, as we are stranded too deep on the dry land.

Eventually, most of the workers had gotten over the shock. After a few hours, a mercantile marine arrives from Chile, so that they can figure out how to fix the tanks and essentially, rescue everyone.

Outside, a strong wind blows with frozen rain falling from the sky. I begin to get angry with myself. “What was I thinking? I shouldn’t have sailed! I am an engineer not a sailor.” I remember my family, and I suddenly feel that I am gaining more strength. I manage to get through each day. We spend seven nights trying to fix the ship. Meanwhile, a group of people arrive to help us. They are experts in closing up holes in situations such as this one.

Finally, after twenty long days, the ship begins its journey towards the shipyard. We were finally saved. During these twenty days of continuous intensities, no one was able to sleep normally anymore. I stayed three days at the shipyard. At last, on the third day, I finally get to the airport on my journey home.

Spending seven months on a ship is complete and utter torture. This is an experience that will constantly remind me of the hardship that I had to endure. It has given me strength to live on my own in crucial situations.

Please find below a Certificate