Superyacht saves 16
The captain and crew of a 121ft superyacht rescued 16 suspected migrants in a harrowing incident off St Kitts in the Caribbean on 28 March.
The crew of SY Genevieve, a 121ft Ed Duboisdesigned sloop, were motor sailing from Antigua to St Maarten shortly before midnight on 27 March when they heard what sounded like a woman’s scream.
Thomas Auckland, captain of Genevieve, recalls that they activated a DSC and called a Mayday. “We then positioned four crew around the vessel with torches or searchlights to try to locate the woman or women.
“Six minutes later we spotted some reflective tape and discovered a man clinging on to part of a damaged lifejacket. We used a small circular fender, attaching an additional buoyancy aid fastened to a rescue line to throw downwind at mid-ships. We were able to pull him to the stern.”
They continued the search, knowing there was at least one woman still in the water, and spotted her a few minutes later clinging to a barrel.
“Once in the cockpit she told us she’d been travelling on a small boat which had left Antigua, bound for St Thomas (USVI), with approximately 32 people on board. The vessel had broken down, taken on water and capsized.”
The crew of Genevieve let off flares, and slowly made their way downwind towards St Kitts. Shortly afterwards they spotted a small light, which turned out to be a survivor waving their mobile phone.
The Genevieve crew approached to find the fishing skiff, La Belle Michelle, with 15 people straddling the capsized hull.
The crew rigged a line from the fishing boat’s upturned outboard to the stern of Genevieve then attached a rescue sling to the line.
“Our plan was for the casualties to run themselves along the rope one by one, and once they reached the starboard quarter, to transfer to the rescue sling, with which we’d haul them clear of the water,” explained Auckland. Genevieve has a freeboard of over 2m.
The capsize survivors made their way across one by one, though most were unable to swim. “We later discovered they were wearing all the clothes they owned, often three pairs of jeans, and over six upper layers each, which obviously made swimming very challenging.
“Towards the end the casualties were becoming less and less physically able, and unfortunately the last casualty fell from the hull and was unable to make it along the line.” Tragically they could not be found, but the 16 survivors rescued – believed to include migrants from Cameroon – were later transferred ashore with only minor injuries.