After the reform and opening up, China's economic construction has once again entered the right track, under the rapid development of the economy, various costly scientific research undertakings have also begun, and the Chinese ocean scientific research ship Xiangyanghong No. 16 was built in the early stage of reform and opening up.
This is a 4500-ton research vessel, which brings together the latest research achievements in the relevant fields of China at that time, has the world's most advanced multi-frequency detector, and there is a 10,000-meter winch specially purchased from the United States, which can be said to be "armed to the teeth".
However, on the way to carry out a scientific expedition in 1993, this ship unfortunately collided with a Cypriot-flagged 10,000-ton giant ship and sank to the bottom of the sea, causing serious losses to China's marine scientific expedition.
Xiangyanghong No. 16
Afterwards, in order to recover the losses as much as possible, the relevant departments of our country specially applied to the International Tribunal for arbitration, demanding that the other party compensate for the losses that occurred on the Xiangyanghong 16, but the person in charge of the 10,000-ton giant ship said that he was not responsible, and the International Tribunal also announced the results of the trial shortly after: the giant ship did not need compensation.
How did Xiangyanghong 16 collide with the 10,000-ton giant ship that can be easily spotted at sea? What did the ship's crew do at the time of the incident? And after the incident, why did it not receive any compensation? All this must start from the time when Xiangyanghong 16 went to sea to carry out scientific expeditions.
On the morning of April 30, 1993, a particularly low visibility fog began in the East China Sea, and the Xiangyanghong 16 research vessel, which was scheduled to depart for the Pacific Ocean to carry out a survey of polymetallic nodule mineral resources, was forced to change its itinerary.
This advanced scientific research ship equipped with the latest science and technology of our country was entrusted with heavy responsibilities at the beginning of its construction, and the scientific expedition team members used it to perform many exploration missions, with a total of hundreds of thousands of kilometers, which made great contributions to the development of China's marine scientific expedition, just two years ago, the ship also won the qualification of "International Undersea Prospecting Pioneer Investor" awarded by the United Nations, when only four countries in the world had this honor.
On this voyage, the 110 crew members from all over the country were full of confidence, and they gathered together to win glory for the country, because this mission is not only to promote the improvement of China's seabed mineral exploration capabilities, but also china's commitment to the relevant Agencies of the United Nations, which is related to the honor of the country.
The 49-year-old captain Jin Mingqi is in his prime, has nearly 30 years of experience in starting a ship, and has been the captain of Xiangyanghong 16 for 11 years, and is very familiar with every instrument of the captain.
Since it encountered foggy weather, Jin Mingqi had to decide to set sail tomorrow for the sake of everyone's safety, but by the time of May Day Labor Day, the fog still did not dissipate, and the voyage had to be delayed again, but because the task given by the state was more urgent, the delay could not be delayed, and the crew at this time began to be a little impatient.
Jin Mingqi is no exception, because he really can't stay idle, in order to improve the safety awareness of the crew, he took advantage of the anchor break, specially arranged an emergency deployment operation drill in an emergency, all the crew were involved, but because there was no advance notice, the effect was not ideal.
By the early morning of May 2, the fog had weakened somewhat, but there was still a layer of mist at sea, and it was supposed to rest for another day, and when the fog had completely dissipated, all the crew could not wait, because the time was tight and the task was heavy, and a delay of one day would delay a lot of progress.
Xiangyang Red
Therefore, under the order of captain Jin Mingqi, the Xiangyanghong 16 research vessel slowly left the port in Shanghai, and then sped towards the target location, that is, the Hawaiian sea in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
In addition to a variety of advanced instruments and detection equipment on the expedition ship, in order to take care of the life of scientists, the ship is also equipped with a luxurious hotel for everyone to rest, under the smooth driving of Captain Jin Mingqi, the crew who stay in the cabin to rest can hardly feel a little shaking.
After a period of rapid driving, Xiangyanghong 16 was about to approach the operation area, at this time the fog on the sea level was thick again, the visibility was only 20 to 30 meters, but Jin Mingqi did not have any intention of slowing down, in order to complete the task as soon as possible, he was still confident in his skills and was still riding the boat at a rapid pace.
Collision accident painting
By 5:05 a.m., the research ship had reached the waters off Jeju Island, when Kim Myung-ki suddenly noticed a huge black shadow in the fog and was heading toward him.
Experienced he knew that it was a huge ship, he did not panic, but slightly slowed down the speed of the ship, he felt that this giant ship was still some distance away from him, and it would definitely take the initiative to change direction after discovering the research ship.
However, the giant ship did not seem to see the Xiangyanghong No. 16 research vessel, and still sailed at a very fast speed in the direction of Xiangyanghong, and when it was almost time to make contact, Jin Mingqi realized the seriousness of the matter.
The sinking of the ship
In order to prevent the two ships from colliding, in a hurry, Jin Minqi immediately issued an instruction to turn the rudder to the left, and the panicked crew immediately turned the rudder to the left, hoping to avoid the giant ship in front of them, but the giant ship actually hit the right full rudder, and with a bang, the two ships collided together, and the after-the-fact investigation found that the giant ship that hit Xiangyanghong 16 was a large cargo ship of the Cypriot Silver Horn, weighing 38600 tons.
Weighing only 4,500 tons, the Xiangyanghong was obviously not worth mentioning compared to the Silver Horn, so after the impact, the Xiangyanghong was immediately severely damaged, while the Silver Horn was hardly damaged.
At the moment of the impact, Kim Myung-chi, who was sitting in the wheelhouse, witnessed the scene with his own eyes: "The ball nose of this tens of thousands of tons Cypriot cargo ship hit the cabin part of the ship hard, giving the ship a fatal blow!" ”
A ship that is sinking
The crew, who had been asleep in the cabin for the previous second, were instantly awakened by the huge shock caused by the impact, and they did not know what had happened, but they felt that the ship was constantly sinking and sinking, and a thrilling self-help began.
At this time, the captain of the cockpit, Jin Mingqi, was trying to control his emotions, he knew that as the person in charge of the ship, he must not be chaotic, seeing that the ship was sinking, he immediately sent a signal to the Silver Horn giant ship, asking the opposite side to slow down and resist the 16th ship.
This prevented a large amount of seawater from seeping in from the opening of the hole that was knocked open, thereby delaying the sinking speed of the hull and providing more time for the crew to escape, however, the Silver Horn not only ignored the signal sent, but also quickly threw the ship out, causing xiangyanghong 16 to be greatly accelerated by the infiltration of seawater, and the hull sank at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Jin Mingqi knew that all the crew members would lose their chances of survival if they did not make any more moves, so at 5:08, 3 minutes after the ship was hit, he immediately ordered the ship's telegraph director to send a distress signal - the satellite position marker.
After the signal was sent, he decisively issued a abandonment deployment to the entire crew of the ship, and sounded the alarm bell for abandoning the ship, but it rang twice, because of the infiltration of seawater, all the power devices on the ship, including emergency power, stopped working.
All the crew members were very hesitant when they heard the alarm bell, and none of them could believe that the captain had issued an order to abandon the ship, after all, there were so many advanced equipment on the ship, and some crew members asked the captain: "Do you really want to abandon the ship?" ”
Knowing that it was a critical juncture for the ship to be destroyed and that the sooner the ship was destroyed, the better, he shouted at the crew again: "Abandon the ship!" fast! Everyone put on their life jackets and go to the boat deck! Let the scientists board the lifeboat first, and let the elderly and infirm board the lifeboat first! ”
Research vessels
The crew rushed to the deck after listening, but when some of the crew members walked to the deck, they found that due to the collision of the Silver Horn, two of the only 4 lifeboats on the ship had been squeezed and could no longer be used, but the captain was after all 110 people, and the remaining two must not be able to be loaded.
The crew saw the Silver Horn parked not far away, and some english-speaking people shouted loudly, "Release the lifeboat!" Release the lifeboat! But the Silver Horn did not react at all, still standing motionless not far away, and the crew had to save themselves.
At this critical moment, all the crew members showed great quality, and under the unified command of the captain, they boarded two dinghies in an orderly manner, one of which was overloaded with more than 50 people, and the other smaller one was also loaded with more than 40 people.
Ocean freighters
The sinking continued, although Jin Mingqi had come to the deck to command, but did not jump on the lifeboat, when the two lifeboats had really been unable to hold anyone, he handed a package containing important information to the final crew boarding the boat, and said to him: "You get on the lifeboat first, you must protect the data, I can't go, there are still crew members in the cabin, I want to go back and rescue them all!" "The confidential officer was very touched after hearing this.
When many crew members on the deck boarded the ship, the few remaining crew members in the cabin were not idle, and at the critical moment, their first thought was to rush out some more detection equipment and experimental data, most of them were scientific researchers, in their eyes, these things are more precious than life.
Captain Jin Mingqi returned to the cabin, although the sea had been submerged to the thigh position, he did not have the slightest fear, with his familiarity with the facilities in the cabin, he tried to search for the traces of the crew, and finally rescued most of the crew.
The sea area where the incident occurred
With the concerted efforts of all the crew, 107 people escaped from the Xiangyanghong 16 research vessel, but it is a pity that three crew members remained in the ship forever in order to rescue the information.
At 5:40 a.m. on May 2, 1993, a moment of grief that will always be remembered for the surviving crew of the Xiangyang, the Xiangyanghong 16 research vessel sank completely to the bottom of the sea, and all the crew members who were adrift in the sea shed tears, not only for the valuable instruments on board, but also because they had been working on this ship for many years...
Some of the crew members of the Silver Horn witnessed the scene of the crew of the Xiangyanghong working together to escape from the ship, and they also began to admire these brave and united crew members, and after the continuous negotiations of the surviving crew of the Xiangyanghong, the SilverHorn finally extended a helping hand, and at 6:50, all the surviving crew members were rescued on the SilverHorn freighter.
Ten minutes later, with the help of the telephone on the Silver Horn, our telegraph staff dialed the telephone of the East China Sea Branch of the State Oceanic Administration by satellite, truthfully reported to the leaders the whole process of the sinking of the Xiangyanghong, and applied for support.
When the leaders learned of this, they were also very sad in their hearts, and when they reported the news to the government, because the diplomatic issues involved in taking people to the Silver Horn of Cyprus nationality, our Government immediately instructed the "Deyi" ocean-going tugboat to go to the place of the incident to bring back the surviving crew members on the Silver Horn.
At 21:30 on the evening of May 2, the ocean-going freighter "Deyi" finally caught up with the Silver Horn and brought 107 Chinese crew members back to China, when the ship stopped at the dock in Shanghai, the surviving crew members did not have a trace of happiness, they looked at the direction of the sinking of Xiangyanghong 16 for a long time without speaking, and everyone was full of grief.
The Deyi tugboat
The sinking of Xiangyanghong 16 caused nearly 100 million yuan of economic losses to our country, compared with the loss of advanced equipment, more valuable is the unfortunate death of three scientific researchers, in recognition of their bravery in rescuing materials and equipment, the government then held a special mourning activity for them, and soon, also held a condolence meeting for the surviving crew.
At this condolence meeting, the crew members were very sad, because of the loss of a large number of advanced equipment and data, the surviving scientists were even more sad, but soon calmed down, they said in an interview: "Although the ship is gone, we are still there!" As long as the motherland needs, the next time we go to the sea, we will go! ”
"The ship of science has sunk, but the soul of science is not scattered!" The scientists' spirit of exploration really deserves our highest respect for them.
The story of the Xiangyanghong 16 research vessel does not end here, because after the incident, China also filed a complaint with the International Tribunal, demanding that the Silver Horn make a claim.
Scientific expedition personnel
After all, all the crew members believed that if the Silver Horn had not retreated quickly at the time of the accident and caused the sea to pour into the Xiangyanghong, then the Xiangyanghong would not have sunk so quickly, so that all 110 crew members would have survived, and they believed that the Silver Horn should be held responsible and compensated.
But soon the trial results came out, and with the judge's judgment that "both parties are responsible, and the Silver Horn does not need to compensate", the death of the Xiangyanghong did not receive any compensation, and the reason for this judgment was entirely due to a series of irregularities with our side at the time of the accident.
First of all, when the captain found the Silver Horn, he did not take the initiative to stop the ship, but continued to move forward, pinning his hopes on the Silver Horn to change the course, which was contrary to the basic common sense of the voyage.
The sunken ship, non-Xiangyanghong 16
In addition, the captain's left rudder instruction in an emergency also violates international practice, according to the basic norms of international navigation, when two ships meet, both sides should turn the rudder to the right, and it is this fatal mistake that led to the tragedy.
As for why the Silver Horn quickly retreated at the time of the incident, the responsible personnel of the Silver Horn also explained that they were loaded with a large amount of natural gas on the ship at that time, and if they continued to collide, it was likely to cause an explosion, which would lead to a greater disaster.
Under the evidence, although the sinking of Xiangyanghong 16 was sad for the people, it was still impossible to get any compensation, but the vanished Xiangyanghong 16 remained in our memory forever, and we wished the dead to rest in peace.