Sailor saved with family in Pacific was survivor of sinking that killed 19
A SCOTS sailor who ran aground with his wife and two children on a reef in the South Pacific survived a tragedy in the Caribbean decades ago.
Bobby Cooper, 51, wife Cheryl, 37, and children Lauren, 13, and Robbie, ten, were 200 miles from the nearest inhabited island when disaster struck on Monday. It was only by chance that a boat was nearby and able to help them.
Last night, the couple told of the ordeal of waking their children in the dead of night as they bailed out their vessel and sent a distress signal.
Mr Cooper was a survivor of the 1984 Marques disaster that left 19 dead. The 88ft vessel was taking part in the Tall Ships race in the Caribbean when it sank in seconds during a ferocious storm.
Four Britons were among those killed. Mr Cooper, then 18, was one of only nine survivors.
The Daily Mail told at the time how he was dragged under the water as the vessel sank but survived because the air in his oilskins kept him buoyant.
After being taken to Bermuda, he phoned his parents in Stirling saying how lucky he was to be alive, while ‘heartbroken that so many chums have gone’.
Yesterday Mr Cooper made another phone call, this time from the South Pacific to tell how his family’s 50ft catamaran the Avanati was thrown on to barely charted Beveridge Reef, almost 200 miles from the island of Niue.
Mr Cooper said: ‘The reef didn’t appear on our plotter, I’m afraid. It came as a complete surprise. It was fairly interesting. We surfed on to the reef. Bit of a navigation error. It was very violent and we grounded.
‘We were then being hit by waves as they came over us, breaking over our stern.
‘We got the kids up. We put them to the task of collecting whatever things they required and assessed our situation.’
Speaking to the Times, veteran sailer Mr Cooper added: ‘We realised the boat was not sinking and the best place to be was on board. We sat it out until the waves pushed us far enough on to the reef to be away from the breakers.’
They then set off a distress beacon, fearing that any assistance would take days to reach them, and their call was picked up by the Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealife land 1,500 miles to the south. Luckily, the rescuers’ emergency alert was picked up by whale research ship the Dona Catharina, which happened to be sheltering in the lagoon formed by the reef.
Mr Cooper said: ‘They turned on their deck lights and we could see them. If they hadn’t been there, we’d be sitting in a raft right now, trying to keep warm and dry.’
The family are on the Dona Catharina waiting for the weather to improve so they can sail to Nuie. Their yacht was hauled off the reef and is anchored in the lagoon.
Mrs Cooper’s mother Karen Kerr, 60, of Doncaster, Yorkshire, said: ‘I had a brief call from Cheryl, just to confirm that they’re safe and being looked after. They’re very grateful for being alive.
‘They wanted the family to have an adventure. Bobby and Cheryl took their kids out of school, sold their house and set off in April 2016.
‘They went around the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific.
‘They were on their way to New Zealand, where they were going to stay for a couple of months before deciding where to go next.’
‘Very violent and we grounded’