Immigrant Rescue Report - Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

The stories about the Malta area are very similar, simply the size of this problem is unbelievable. I've read reports that state around 25,000 people a year are attempting to reach the Canaries via this method. That is 5-600 boats per annum. And these are of course the 'official' figures.

Whilst the issue in the Mediterannean is just as tragic and carries similar risks for those in the Atlantic, I think that the strategies need to be different. The Atlantic is very remote and once people are lost there, the only chance they have is a boat like ours passing. Numerous boats wash up in the Caribbean full of skeletons.
 
Hi - The fact that they were 300 miles offshore puzzled us a little. We came to the conclusion that perhaps they had left land, and once they had lost sight of land gotten lost. Then I guess they came to the conclusion to switch engines off until such time as they saw other boats.

We did try to pursue some follow up from the World Cruising Club, but they were not really very interested.
 
No, we wouldn't have hightailed it, when your there and in it, leaving 50 people to die ain't the plan. Whilst it was contemplated, I would have faced a crew mutiny if I had of arrived at that decision.
 
Whilst I've never been in this position, and hopefully never will be, do you think that having some sort of image intensifying night sight on board the yachts would have been more use, as a way of keeping track of the launch (and thus distance from it) for both yachts?

Again, thinking of "weaponry", and this is just theoretical, would some form of larger anti-personnel weapon - light machine gun even- have given you more "stand off" from the launch? I'm not even going into the practicalities of stowing, mounting, training the crew to use it, licensing, etc., just that the thought occurred that a quick show of force -burst of fire across the bows- in the initial stages of the situation may have resulted in a more passive reaction from the people in the launch. Use of flares as anti-personnel rockets seems a little bit blunt and very last resort. Had it really come to that stage the enraged and desperate crew of the launch would have been prepared to do anything, and suffer the casualties. Would anyone be prepared to fire a flare into a boat load of desperate men and women? And flares quickly run out, having run through all of mine once in a severe gale long ago.
 
One person did argue phosphur bombs and UZI's. I just don't think that weapons are a good idea... for the average joe, which most of us are, there is just simply too much scope for things to go wrong. I would rather rely on my wit than an UZI I think.

No I think that if you want to be sure of avoiding this situation, then avoid this area altogether. It is a tough one to call, but if I were sailing a smaller boat then as previously mentioned, I would head west out of the Canaries first and then head to Caribbean. This is a shame as it cuts the CVI's out of cruising routes for people.

Trouble is that there is no real data (that I have seen) in terms of yacht encounters and no doubt commercial organisations would be keen to play down the risks. We know that (in 2005?) another ARC yacht came across a vessel. Whilst this is not conclusive data, it does suggest that there is a reasonable chance of running into one of these boats now and quite simply, as was evidenced during our situation, the Spanish (EU) governments do not have control or sufficient resources available to help in this part of the world. I have a sense that their strategy is latent.

One thing that is clear. World Cruising Club advice to "Call Las Palmas MRCC and Standby" is naive and simply insufficient.
 
Reading this thread has been fascinating.

The way you handled the situation awesome, I am not sure I would have had the presence of mind to come even close.

I would not advocate the carrying of firearms. One reason already stated is you have to be prepared to use it and you may have to use it first - even harder in my view.

Others reasons, in no particular order:
- it is harder than people realise to shoot straight especially on a boat
- Use of a shot gun means only a slow rate of fire can be maintained
- If you are faced with an attacker(s) who see you are armed they are more likely to open fire first than if you are unarmed.
- The attackers are likely to have a mindset using a firearm is a way of life to them.
- Armed attackers are often more likely to be more heavily armed the ubiquitous AK47 springs to mind
- Weapons have to be kept well maintained to function and kept securely.
- The problems with dealing with officials in ports of calls could be interesting.

I wonder if there is away of developing some sort of acoustic system that could be used with the crew donning linked ear sets to protect them.? The cruise liner attacked near Somalia a while back used some sort of system, I think it was a Seabourne ship.

I look forward to reading your next offering

Iota
 
During a training course last year I met a technical officer on board a cruise ship last who talked about the 'sonic boom' technology. His view was that would be far too expensive and power consumptive on board a yacht as the technology stands today. It is an interesting thought and if it could be developed to be functional on board yacht in a cost effective and energy effective manner then I think it may have its uses.
 
[ QUOTE ]
'sonic boom' technology

[/ QUOTE ]
The last time I heard of this being tested was 10 years ago. Former rock stars had bought some ex-MOD vehicles with loudspeakers on, and all they did was terrify the cows in Mid Devon.
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

The Americans are developing a beamed Ultrasound or Infrared (Its classified) weapon for use in crowd dispersal, but the power needed for this was vast and well outside the "rare" threat level to make it useful for yachts.
 
Thought provoking post and congatulations on handling a difficult situation v well.

Some off the cuff remarks to stimulate futher examination of our morals/thoughts/responses.

1. Millions of Africans die of starvation every year. In my living memory (last 50yrs!) it has always been so and all the efforts of UN, Oxfam etc have not cured the problem.

2. These people who try to escape Africa and its problems are desperate. 50 people in a motor boat 300mls from land probably trying to get to the Canaries is desperation!

3. If as individuals we currently do nothing to alleviate the suffering in Africa why should we react any differently to 50 of the poor souls but now situated in a launch in the Atlantic?

4. Common sense dictates that the safety of your boat and crew must come first but had the sea got rough could you stand off and watch them drown - wait until a savable number are left swimming and then help?

5. Yet we watch on TV many dying of hunger/wars in Africa and if we do nothing are we not "standing off " but just from the comfort of our armchairs and insulated by distance and the TV.

I have no answers and probably like many just avoid the situation. It seems that common humanity is just not enough these days to go round and solve all the worlds problems and as we cannot solve all the problems - for many of us we just bury our heads in the sand.
 
Absolutely, 50 people in a boat the size they were in, 300 miles of shore is desparation and at its highest level.

I am no expert on Africa and up until the point of this incident I had fairly generic views of Africa as portrayed within the media. This scenario certainly brings you much closer to understanding the reality of the situation in Africa, when you see the levels of desparation as we have now both mentioned.

The incident has provoked a fair amount of thought on the issue and I am pleased that the posts I have made here are turning into interesting debates that leads to more thought for those who read here. At least the event has allowed a little raising of awareness and some deeper thinking amongst the people in this community. I'm on the hunt for places to debate the wider political issues here.

I think that it is very difficult to imagine the thoughts that you are going to have to rationalise in the rough weather / drowning situation. It would require a good deal of creative thinking at the time and would depend upon the tools that you had at your disposal at the time. Under pressure, it is remarkable what a yacht crew can achieve....

Resolving the problems of Africa are amongst the most difficult problems to solve. The dictates of religion, the behaviour of some multi-nationals, corruption, life being seen as a commodity, lack of education, water, generations who now know nothing but cruelty, children indoctrinated at 8 years of age into life as a soldier, dictatorial states, tribal factions the list goes on and on and on.

Bob Geldof's call to ask a million people to March on Edinburgh during the G8 summit is the sort of event that can create action and it did. But the world needs more of that, much more. I think that perhaps we are politically lazy these days or, that we live in a state which simply doesn't listen us when we march peacefully.

There are very few recollections stronger in my mind than when the crew of the launch (lets give them a dignity beyond being 'immigrants', it is too loaded a term these days), with all their effort let out a weak cheer and raised their hands in thanks when they they realised that they were saved. That is precisely why you can't just let these people go.

I'll get some images up available publically at some point soon so that people can get a sense of the atmospher at the time.
 
[ QUOTE ]
There are very few recollections stronger in my mind than when the crew of the launch (lets give them a dignity beyond being 'immigrants', it is too loaded a term these days), with all their effort let out a weak cheer and raised their hands in thanks when they they realised that they were saved.

[/ QUOTE ]That must have been some moment in your life..... I can't even begin to imagine how good that must have made you feel.... congrats again.
 
Actually the emotions were very mixed. A real good factor? No.

I think sickened was probably the best way to describe my overall reaction. We live very sheltered and precious lives here, the juxtaposition with what we encountered; big K pleasure luxury vs desperation. The acomplishment was a good feeling and the fact that I have the opportunity to engage in great debate that hopefully we can all gain from and that we can push a signifcant issue forward with is important for all concerned.

Undoubtedly, the bond that this scenario brought between the crew on both yachts was unique and I suspect that we will all remain in contact for years to come. So I think some great friends were made here as well.
 
I think I should introduce myself before making any contribution to this discussion.

It was me that Jules was speaking to on “If Only” via the VHF and it was me and the other members of crew on If Only who spent the night fighting off the immigrants.

I have only just come across this thread and will start by saying that Jules’s account is accurate and that the crew of If Only are forever indebted to Jules, John and the rest of Tallulah’s crew. The assistance which they provided was invaluable and was unquestionably one of the main reasons that the incident was resolved in as satisfactory a way as it was. I can not emphasise enough the value of having assistance of the type provided by Jules, et al in a situation of the type in which we found ourselves. When you find yourself in a situation of extreme danger and therefore stress your ability to make reasoned decisions is impeded and having somebody who is slightly removed (and professional / sensible) on hand to assist and discuss matters with is invaluable. I like to think of myself as a cool headed and robust character, as I suspect most yachtsmen do, but to be put in a position of hand to hand fighting one moment and making clear decisions the next is extremely difficult. Jules’s assistance in co-ordinating assistance and making the difficult international distress calls was more than helpful it was vital.

There have been a number of interesting questions raised in this discussion and it will not come as a surprise that I have strong view on all of them. If this discussion is to move forward I will express those views but will limit myself to a couple of comments in the first instance.

Firstly the attitude of the Spanish authorities to our plight and that of the Africans is scandalous. It is my very firm view that there should be a patrol in that area 24/7 and 365 days a year, not to protect yachtsman, although that would be an obvious benefit, but to deal with the vast number of refugees attempting the passage in truly lethal circumstances. I appreciate that it is a lot to ask Spain to deal with the problem alone but see no reason why the various European states could not provide resources to deal with the fact that hundreds and maybe thousands of people are losing their lives in that area every year.

Secondly, I very much enjoyed the ARC, I thought it was generally well organised and I would do it again. For anybody considering doing the ARC this year or in the future the chances of being involved in what I was involved in are next to none and you should not let it put you off. That having been said the World Crewsing Club’s response to the incident was to try to cover it up and I don’t think that is acceptable. It was not their fault, far from it, but they reported it as a rescue in which a number of compotator boats were involved, that is simply not what happened. We were attacked, repeatedly and violently and we required assistance. It is true to say that the immigrates were rescued but they were not the only ones. There were 50 odd of them and 6 of us. They were desperate and we were in the most immediate of danger. The WCC dealt commendably with the other incidents which took place during our crossing but I remain of the view that the hushing up approach taken to this incident was unfortunate.

Further thoughts to follow.
 
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