Refloating of ‘Goschen’-- a novel experience for us railway men
December 22, 1964 was a very significant day for the people of Sri Lanka. It was on this night that a storm developing in the Bay of Bengal, north-east of Sri Lanka transformed into a high intensity cyclone. With winds gusting over 100 mph, it swept across the northern part of the island from Trincomalee in the Eastern coast and over the Mannar peninsula on the west creating havoc, claiming over hundreds of human live and destroying houses, buildings and the rail/road infrastructure.
Communications between the Mannar peninsula and the mainland were lost and it took a couple of days to get a clear picture of the damage.
In the transport sector the Sri Lanka Railway was the worst affected with over six miles of track between Thiruketheeswaram and Mannar completely washed away more than 200 feet from its original location along with the formation, due to the tidal waves which were over 15 feet high. The ferry steamer ‘Goschen’, one of the vessels belonging to the Indian Railways (the other being FS ‘Irwin’) used to ferry Railway passengers between Talaimannar Pier and Dhanuskodi in South India, which was moored at the Talaimannar Pier on that night was carried ashore on the 15 ft tidal wave and left grounded on the beach about 150 ft away from the shore line when the wave receded. In fact, it was lying broadside to the sea with the crew on board, for a very long time till it was finally refloated and sailed back to India in March 1965.
The refloating operation of FS ‘Goschen’ took nearly six weeks and involved the combined efforts of the Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka Railways and the South Indian Railway (owners of the ferry). It was a novel and an exciting experience for us railway-men.
I was one of five Special Apprentices of the Way & Works sub-department of the SLR who was originally deployed in the restoration of track from Murunkkan to Talaimannar, along with M/s. P.B. Jayasundera, D.S. Adhihetty, G.B. Weerasuriya and G.G.A. Gunasekera. At the time the refloating operations of the ferry started, we were engaged in the restoration of the tracks on the Talaimannar Pier and the station yard which was the final portion of the works involved. These restoration works were carried out under the direction of Chief Engineer (CEW-SLR) N.A. Vaithyalingam, Deputy Chief Engineer (DYW-SLR) J.P. Senaratne, Assistant Chief Engineer (AEW-SLR) L.S.de Silva in Colombo and District Engineer(DEN) R. Ratnasingham and his assistant Eng. S.P. Panchacharavel (ADEN) who was at the site. The Inspectors Permanent Way (IPWW) of the Mannar section too were involved.
It was in early March that the SL Navy in conjunction with the South Indian Railways commenced the efforts to refloat the ferry As far as I can recollect the SLN contingent was under Cdr. Matthysz and included Lt. Wise and the Diving Unit under Lt. Somasunderam. P/O Sarath Perera and the Navy divers, L/seamen: Harry Gunawardene, Pendry White, Michael Diaz and Hillary Berenger were also in the group. The idea was to ‘side slip’ the ferry on steel rails provided by the SLR, the grounded ship being pulled by its sister vessel FS ‘Irwin’ from the sea.
Several attempts were made but to no avail. The rails were getting buried in the sand and the pulling force of the ‘Irwin’ was insufficient. Deputy Chief Engineer (DYW-SLR), J.P. Senaratne, who often visited the site being aware of the unsuccessful attempts at refloating of the ‘Goschen’, proposed his plan to the SLN and SIR and subsequent to a meeting held to discuss it, the go-ahead was given to make this combined effort.
The plan was to construct an artificial pond/basin around the grounded ferry, providing sufficient leeway for the ferry to turn (once it was afloat) by excavating the sand and strengthening the slopes on three sides of the basin and finally constructing a cross bund on the sea side thus enclosing the ferry. The cross bund and the side slopes were to be heavily strengthened with sand bags which would also minimise any seepage of sea water. These bunds were to be sufficiently high so that the sea water which would be pumped into the pond would be at a higher level than the surrounding sea level. Once this was achieved it was expected the ferry would float and the subsequent breach of the cross bund with submerged explosives and the resultant gush of water to the sea would enable the ferry to be pulled to the sea.
Immediate action was taken by DYW to transport the two International Harvester mechanized bulldozers and the two bucket scrapers which were at the Dematagoda Railway Workshop to Talaimannar by a special service train along with a tractor shovel. Additional labour was obtained from other sections. Arrangements were also made with SIR to get down thousands of empty gunny bags from India for sandbagging the slopes.
When the bulldozers arrived, excavation of the beach area surrounding the grounded ferry commenced, the sand being carried by the bucket scrapers and unloaded on the sides. Within a few days embankments of the three sides of the basin were constructed and the slopes strengthened with sand bags. Then the cross bund too was constructed with slopes strengthened. This task took about a week.
After ensuring the required height was attained, the task of pumping sea water from outside into the basin commenced. About 25 nos. (2” and 4” inch) Lister water pumps were brought from several building maintenance sections of the SLR. In addition, two Kangaroo water pumps (10”) mounted on tractors were obtained from the Irrigation Department. It took nearly 40 hours of continuous operation of all the pumps to fill the basin to the required level, which was well above the sea level at high tide.
When the water level was close to the top level of the basin, slight movements of the ferry were felt by the crew on board and in a few more minutes it broke free from the sand, rose to the surface and floated in the basin to the cheers from the crew, the workers and the few onlookers who were gathered at the site. This happened late in the evening and the officers of the SLN, SLR and SIR (Captains of ‘Goschen’ and ‘Irwin’ and representative of Indian Railways) decided to commence the final stage of the operation on the following day.
The ferry was steamed up, engines started and kept running whilst the skipper carefully manoeuvred the vessel to come parallel to the pier with its stern facing the ocean which was the position that the vessel was required to be when the relaunch was to be carried out.
Early in the morning the SLN diving team under the direction of Lt. Somasunderam commenced the placing of stacks of dynamite at strategic points in the cross bund of basin (one facing the sea) with the help of a highpressure hose and then connecting all in series and stretching the lead wires on to the land area to be connected to a detonating device, which could be switched on to set off the dynamite to blast the cross bund instantly. A steel cable was fixed to the stern of the ‘Goschen’ and this was secured to the sister vessel ‘Irwin’ which would pull the ‘Goschen from the sea at the time the signal was given.
Another cable from the ‘Goschen’ was taken around a bollard on the pier and led towards land and secured to the bulldozer which too would use its power to provide additional pulling force at the same time the signal was given. The strategy was to wait for the ideal time when the tide was right and give the signal when the cross bund would be breached due to the detonation of explosives which would create a forceful outflow of water from a higher level enabling the ‘Goschen’ with the thrust of its engine to get in to the sea. Simultaneous pulling forces of the ‘Irwin’ from the sea and the bulldozer from land would provide added thrust.
By noon everything was in place and despite warnings given to the locals to be away from the site, a fair crowd had gathered at a safe distance on the pier to witness this event. Navy officers Lt. Somasunderam, Lt. Wise and the rest of the unit were present. A notable absentee was Comdr. Matthysz who had gone back to Colombo. Eng. Ratnasingham, Eng. Panchacharavel, other SLR officers including the five of us were also there.
All were waiting anxiously and at about 1.30 p.m. the signal was given and the Navy set off the explosives which resulted in a loud explosion with sand bags and other debris flying in to the sky. The cross bund was breached. The vessel with its engines running full stern, moved forward along with the sudden gush of water from the basin and the accompanied pull from the ‘Irwin’ and the bulldozer. It passed the bund about three quarters and got stuck on the pier side of the basin. After a few minutes, the Navy divers cleared sand with the help of the high-pressure hoses and finally to the accompaniment of the cheers from the crowd and the toot of the ‘Irwin’s horn, the FS ‘Goschen’ was set afloat after nearly ten weeks being grounded on the beach of Talaimannar.
This was an epic operation successfully executed by the combined efforts of the SL Navy, Sri Lanka Railway and the South Indian Railway, an ingenious plan devised by Eng. J. Paul Senaratne, Deputy Chief Engineer, SLR. We were lucky to be a part of it.