We must remain vigilant. The weather could get worse.
IN July 1976, Gordon cook and his wife Mary, son Jonathan, 6, daughter Suzanne,7, and I set sail from Plymouth, England, to duplicate the round the-world voyage made 200 years earlier by Captain James Cook.
The 1st hit
The first leg of journey passed pleasantly, sailing down the west coast of Africa to Cape Town. There, before heading east, two crewmen — American Larry Vigil and Swiss Herb Seigler — helped them tackle one of the world’s roughest seas, the Indian Ocean.
Becoming a nightmare
Oh my god! Somebody help us. Honey stay in there.
We need to make through this.
Despite atrocious weather, we had a wonderful holiday complete with a Christmas tree. New Year’s Day saw no improvement in the weather, but we reasoned that it had to change soon. And it did change — for the worse.
The ray of hope
We are safe now.
At dawn on January 2, the waves were gigantic.As the ship rose to the top of each wave one could see endless enormous seas rolling towards them, and the screaming of the wind and spray was painful to the ears.
Then a tremendous explosion shook the deck.The whole ship was smashed from different parts, but it stayed intact, Gordon and Suzanne were injured badly. This continued for next 48 hours and by that time they were loosing all the hope, but endured everything for each other. UNTIL..
Gordon rushed on deck and gazed with relief at the stark outline of Ile Amsterdam. It was only a bleak piece of volcanic rock, with little vegetation — the most beautiful island in the world! FIN - ADITI SHARMA (XI B)