The ship "Xiangyanghong 16" sank

At noon on April 30, 1993, the Dock of the East China Sea Branch of the State Oceanic Administration of the Huangpu River in Shanghai was bustling with leaders, media reporters and family members from all sides; the red carpet catwalk, the bunting flag flew, and the Shanghai Television Station recorded the program on the spot. Under the waving of everyone's arms, the Xiangyanghong 16 ship slowly sailed away from the dock of the East China Sea Branch.

I was assigned to work on the ship after graduating from school in 1986 and worked on the ship for almost 7 years as a three-tube ship. I can't remember how many times I left the Dock of the East China Sea Branch, this time it was a bit grand, but I was used to it. It was only when the wife who got married in March also came to see her off, that she had a parting mood.

Xiangyanghong No. 16 is an ocean-going scientific survey ship built by Hudong Shipyard in 1982, with a displacement of 4440 tons, which is the most advanced large-scale ocean-going research vessel in China at that time, and the localization rate is extremely high, the main engine is a domestic 6ESDZ43/82 diesel engine, double machine, double propeller, double rudder, before the mission modified double adjustable propeller, plus bow side push, becoming the benchmark of domestic research vessels. Since 1984, the vessel has been conducting surveys of bottom manganese nodule deposits in the Western Pacific Ocean. The mission is expected to last 6 months, stop in Hawaii twice, remember the subsidy of 2 US dollars / day, as well as clothing costs, meal supplements, large electrical indicators, etc., the conditions are favorable, attracting many people to go to sea, including the driver on duty when there is an accident.

In the evening of the same day, the boat dropped anchor at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The next morning, do some routine inspections and life-saving and fire drills. Because it is the May Day Festival, at noon as usual to add food, not finished eating, inform the preparation of the car, ready to pick up the anchor and pull out. Said good May 2 to go, it is another holiday, but also my turn on duty (4 shifts, I am worth 12-16, 04-08), the mood is not happy. At 22:00 at night, the freshwater pump of the No. 1 host failed, and the conversion valve of the No. 2 pump could not be closed, so it had to stop, and the ship also stopped for about an hour. On May 2, 0400, I took over the shift to the cabin, saw the main engine running at a low speed, and the shift management wheel said that the fishing boat had begun to slow down an hour earlier. 0400-0800 The driver who took over the shift was a member of the agency, who had previously worked as a driver in a small boat and had been working in the agency for many years, and this time he was temporarily seconded to the ship as a driver on duty (it is said that he did not have a license). The driver on duty took a photo when he handed over the shift, and there was a large boat that met with my ship an hour later, which needed attention. Because there are many fishing boats, AIS alarms are continuous, and the driver turns off the alarm, low speed, visual avoidance. The time came to around 0500 o'clock on May 2, I felt that the day was dawn, I could accelerate, so I asked the pilot to go to the steering platform to see, and afterwards according to the mechanic, he went to the side of the steering platform, looked at the fog on the sea, and could hardly see the bow. Almost at the same time, a huge black shadow suddenly broke through the thick fog and pressed against the right side of my ship. I was sitting in the middle of the control room, and the slow pace of the host was sleepy. But at this moment the host suddenly accelerated, the audio of the supercharger screamed and rose in a straight line, I instinctively stood up, wanted to see the various instruments, wanted to know what the situation was, at this time a loud noise, a violent vibration, I was thrown from the middle of the control room to the left door of the control room. Blinded, completely blinded, it felt empty in my heart. After many years of life as a seafarer, having experienced many winds and waves, and imagining various dangerous scenes, I am not afraid at this time. The activities of the hands and feet are still normal. A few seconds passed, and I began to react, it must have been an accident, either hitting the reef or crashing. I opened the door of the left control room, bypassed the main engine from the left side of the cabin, and walked to the right side of the cabin, only to see a faint layer of smoke on the starboard side, a large lump of things embedded in the steel plate of the ship, about 4 to 5 meters wide, and the various equipment such as oil pumps, coolers, pressure cabinets, etc. that I love and hate on weekdays have been twisted, cracked, displaced, and unrecognizable, just like the robots that were blown up in cartoons, a mess. Something big went wrong, a Cypriot national, about 40,000 tons of chemical tankers, the "Silver Horn" wheel, her bulbous bow crashed deep into the middle of the cabin of the 4440-ton Xiangyanghong 16 ship, tearing open the opening about 5 meters wide and 3 meters high. At this time, the "Silver Horn" wheel had not yet reversed and exited, but the sea water began to flood the cabin floor. I started to get a little confused again, feeling what I should do, but I didn't know what to do, and I felt that it shouldn't matter if I didn't do it. Confused, I walked back to the control room, and then thought that I might be able to go home, and I was a little happy in my heart. The cabin was suddenly much quieter, the main engine was still spinning, very slow and silent, it should be carried by the current, in fact, she had turned off the fire. I felt cold on my feet, only to find that I was barefoot, my shoes didn't know where to go, and the sea was flooding. I feel like I should have escaped, but I was a little embarrassed, I didn't do anything, shouldn't I go to open the bilge pump, drain the drainage, but it seems that the bilge pump is also scrapped, a whimsical thought, stay in place. Fortunately, my mechanic was still thinking about me, trying to run back to the cabin, yelling at me "run", and I realized that it was time to go home.

Come to the steering deck, look at the sea, the sky is clear, and then look at the tilted ship, the huge "silver horn" bow is deeply embedded in the middle of the right side of my ship, and the two ships are connected together, which is an ugly and disgusting scene. The fog disappeared in an instant after the accident. The sailor on duty later crossed the boat with me, and according to his recollection, there was indeed a lot of fog before the collision, and there was him and the driver in the wheelhouse, the captain was also there, and my mechanic, but no one saw a boat on the surface of the sea, and when he saw it, he was about to crash, and the captain's last password was "left full rudder, full speed forward", but it was useless. At this time, the "Silver Horn" wheel began to reverse, slowly pulling away from my ship, and the sea water poured in and the tilt intensified. The left lifeboat that was being released was shelved, and the sailor Lao He swung the Taiping axe and struggled to cut three axes in a row, cutting the steel cable, and the lifeboat was able to be put down, saving more than 60 people. The workboat was lowered earlier, 10 people were put on board, and two other life rafts were released. The whole ship had 110 people, 106 people escaped by boat and raft, and three people were hit in the cabin, failed to get out of the cabin, and were killed. There is also a person who is a magical big pipe wheel. According to his recollection, usually he slept on the side of the ship, and he couldn't sleep that day, so he changed his head to sleep, otherwise he would have been killed at that time. After the collision, he was squeezed into a ball, 13 fractures below the waist, fortunately the man was awake, but could not move at all, the ship began to sink, and the shouts were not answered. The sea flooded into the room, and he could do nothing about it, and he put on the ring next to his pillow, which his mother had passed on to him. The sea flooded to the body, and then over the body, he had sunk with the ship, and death was inevitable. But a miracle happened, as the hull sank, the sea water poured in, the objects pressed on him began to loosen, he loosened, he drilled out of the hole that had been hit, and although he drank several sips of seawater, he still floated to the surface, and the lifeboat that was destroyed was just where he was floating, and he caught it. But no one noticed him, and he took off the only object on his body, his shorts, and waved it in his hand. He was saved without any clothes, a true rebirth. Meng Lingwei of the Ocean Society, Yu Hai of the Ministry of Finance, and the doctor on board sank into the sea with the ship.

I escaped from the main deck on a life raft, and the chief clerk left the ship with a $200,000 lockbox and Captain Kim Ming-chi. Cut the cable between the life raft and the big ship, and row desperately, hoping to stay away from the big ship and away from the sinking whirlpool of the big ship. In fact, it is not far away, and it is more than 20 meters away, and the tail of the big ship begins to submerge into the water, and then the middle and bow sink. I also had no intention of paddling, silently watching, suddenly a splash of water, the bow of the big ship that was about to sink into the water quickly cocked, pointed straight to the sky, stopped slightly, and began to sink rapidly and vertically, and in the blink of an eye it was a vast sea, empty, only ripples, string bubbles (no legendary whirlpool). The time was 0530 on May 2, only 30 minutes, and Xiangyanghong 16 was gone. A wave of sadness and nausea surged into my heart, and with the bumps of the life raft, I handed over the public food. In fact, I am not seasick, and no matter how big the wind and waves have not been, I have not vomited, but the scene at that moment, I really want to vomit.

All the men who escaped the large ship boarded the "Silver Horn" ship floating nearby. Everyone gathered in the restaurant, saw the familiar hurry to shake hands, I don't know who proposed to roll call it, so the various units and departments began to roll call, verified for a long time, less than three people. The operator called the director at the first time and said, "Xiangyanghong No. 16 is gone", it is said that the director listened to it three times and did not understand, what is called "Xiangyanghong No. 16 is gone". The Filipino crew of the Silver Horn brought blankets, overalls and a variety of drinks. My mechanic, who was already familiar with the Filipino crew, helped me get a pair of shoes. He mysteriously told me that the first mate of the "Silver Horn" ship was drunk last night, and was not on duty in the wheelhouse at all when the ship was crashed (the other party did not admit it when the lawsuit was fought), and I said how come you went to the wheelhouse and did not find a boat, really a "blind man", he said he looked, he looked around, there was fog and nothing. Later, he had a nickname, and now the old comrades call him "blind.".

Many comrades deliberated and went to the wheelhouse of the "Silver Horn" ship to ask the captain of the other side for an "explanation." Argued for half a day, but there was no result. Finally asked the boat to sail to Shanghai, the captain agreed, so everyone dispersed, in the afternoon to sail the boat, at night people are tired, each curled up and fell asleep. The next day when I woke up, someone found that the ship had already crossed the mouth of the Yangtze River, so everyone angrily went to the captain, the captain pushed back to say that the company did not let go to Shanghai, to go directly to South Korea, someone proposed that we drive the ship, drive back to Shanghai, may have a push with the other crew, but did not really grab the right to operate. Afterwards, some foreign media said that we wanted to "hijack the ship", and this was the case. We have more than a hundred people, and if we really want to "hijack the ship", it is easy. A bow frigate that excluded the East China Sea Fleet from the country caught up with the Silver Horn and demanded that it stop. Coincidentally, our Captain Kim was the captain of the ship when he was in the Navy. In the end, an agreement was reached, and another German-Italian ship was sent to pick us up at sea and return to Shanghai. On May 6th, the German-Italian ferry took us back to the Shanghai East China Sea Branch Terminal. The dock was also crowded, and Shanghai Television was also reporting on the spot, but there were no flags, no catwalks, no red carpets, and only many tears. "Blind man" is a little embarrassed, the girlfriend came to pick him up, the ex-girlfriend also came to pick him up, according to him, the three of them also had dinner together in the evening, great!

Many years have passed, and people have forgotten a major event of that year. For many years, I did not want to talk about this matter, but I was about to retire, idle, and loved to reminisce about the past, so I wrote it and gave it to tea.

I sometimes wonder if the anchor was pulled out as planned from May 2 that year, if the host freshwater pump was not broken, did not slow down, did not turn off the AIS, did not avoid fishing boats, if it did not go to the temporary driver, if the Philippine mate did not drink, "blind" was not blind, the fog was not big...

October 3, 2021