Chapter 2 Chapter 2: 6 Rescued People

At 10:06 am on December 8, the six rescued persons from the "First Japan" arrived at the port of Colombo in Sri Lanka on the "Fifth Shirakawa". In Colombo, there are Pan American World Airways, BOAC Airlines flights from Japan via Bangkok.The head office of New Japan Air Lines instructed: After the 6 people arrive in Colombo, they should go to the general hospital there for a health check, and then fly back to China as soon as possible; in addition, the family members of the 6 people and the cadres of the head office will immediately head to Colombo by chartered flight.

Two days later, on December 10, the six rescued people arrived at Haneda Airport in Japan on a Pan American World Airline flight together with their family members and company executives who went to Colombo to welcome them. Due to the unfavorable weather, the landing was 12 minutes later than the scheduled 2:30 pm due to continuous hail on the taxiway.As soon as Pan Am Flight 710 landed, journalists from TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers who had already been waiting there rushed forward. The six rescued people, headed by Captain Miyamoto, wore brand-new uniforms issued by the New Japan Line Corporation, and appeared in front of everyone in an unexpected healthy state.When the six people saw the reporters flocking towards them, they immediately put on serious faces.

The moment the six people got off the plane, the reporters almost semi-violently pulled them away from their family members and surrounded them to the reception room in the airport. For a while, in the not-so-large reception room, the lights of the TV cameras flickered, and the shutters of the cameras rang continuously like machine guns. "Captain, raise your head a little more." "Put on your hat and take a picture." The shouts of the reporters kept coming.At the same time, the lights of the flashing lights kept shining in front of the eyes of the six people. During this period, the serious expressions of the six people never relaxed a bit.The press conference finally started.First, Captain Miyamoto said:

"I would like to take this opportunity to first apologize to the company and to all the people for making things difficult for you. Now, only six of us have been rescued, and the whereabouts of the rest are still unknown. I am deeply disturbed." "Please tell us about the sinking of the Daiichi Japan." The first question came from the reporter. Captain Miyamoto took a sip of the prepared juice drink and moistened his throat: "After we filled up 580,000 kiloliters of oil at the Khafji base in Saudi Arabia, we began to return to the Kiiri base in Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan. On that day, December 5, we were sailing about 500 kilometers south of India. On a sea of ​​1,000 kilometers, the speed is 12 knots. There are no abnormalities in the engine or crew.”

"I heard that the tanker was communicating with the head office before it sank, is that true?" "Yes. We have contacted the company once a day since departure from Khavji on November 30th at 7:00 pm Japan time. Same time on December 5th at 2:50 pm local time , we communicated with the head office by radio. Just at this time, there was a sudden heavy rain, and the rain was heavy and fast. The "Daiichi Japan" which was communicating was suddenly hit by a strong impact. At this moment, the telephone contact Interrupted." "What happened?" "Unfortunately, I don't know. I just heard a huge and terrible explosion, and the huge hull of the 'Daiichi Japan' shook violently. I still clearly remember that the The ink bottles fell to the floor. I immediately thought to see if there was any abnormality in the engine. But at this time the hull had begun to tilt, and the oil was flowing out. The engine room began to flood. I ordered to use all available However, the main central water pump has been damaged due to the impact and cannot be used.”

"What is a center pump?" "It was the water pump specially used when the ship entered the water. At that time, the engine was no longer working. The hull of the 'Daiichi Japan' was tilted and moved only by inertia. Not only that, the oil that flowed out also burned. There was no way, I got off Order to disembark." "Has an SOS signal been sent?" "Of course. I gave the order to send out an SOS call for help. But when we were rescued by the 'Fifth Shirakawa', I heard that they did not receive the SOS call for help. Perhaps the radio room malfunctioned during the instant impact. "

"What was the cause of the accident?" "The reason is not clear. But my analysis has three points: first, it collided with other ships. Second, it hit a magnetic mine. This kind of consideration may be considered stupid. But recently in the Indian Ocean, the United States and the Soviet Union There was a fierce power struggle among them. Moreover, it is said that many magnetic mines were laid during the war between India and Pakistan. So it is not surprising that there are magnetic mines floating in that sea area. The third is lightning strikes. As long as it is harmful to tankers Anyone who knows well, I think, will know that no matter any oil tanker, the oil loaded will gasify and leak little by little. Therefore, the most feared thing is to encounter lightning strikes. I also saw white lightning arcs during the heavy rain at that time , so I think the possibility of being struck by lightning is relatively high."

"Is the whole ship 32 members?" "Yes. Since the introduction of computer operations, the efficiency has been improved, and only 32 people are needed for a 500,000-ton giant oil tanker." "So, what happened to the other 26 personnel, don't you know?" "There are two lifeboats on the 'First Japan', one of which can accommodate 32 people on the ship. After I gave the order to leave the ship, I saw the crew members transfer to the ship one after another. They asked me to leave the ship as soon as possible, but As the captain, I couldn't leave the ship until the last moment. After the lifeboats where the subordinates were on left, I looked around and saw that there were still 5 people staying with me. We tried our best to save the 'Daiichi Japan' ', we made a desperate effort, but the slope became bigger and bigger, and the fire became more and more intense. In desperation, we left the tanker in another lifeboat. Due to the heavy rain, we did not find the lifeboat . I think they will be rescued and come back safe and sound. I still believe that now."

"When were you rescued by the 'Fifth Shirakawa'?" "It was after 10 o'clock that night. We thought we were approaching land in the small boat, but we didn't know when we were heading in the opposite direction. We got oil all over our faces and lost our compass. If we didn't I really don't know what will happen to the rescue of the 'Fifth Shirakawa'." "How did you feel when you saw the oil from the Persian Gulf burning?" "It's an indescribable feeling. The precious oil is being burned in the Indian Ocean for nothing. I have no reason to justify it to the society or to the entire nation. This is not only my own feeling, but I think it is also the first The mood of the entire crew on the One Japan. But there is one thing, I think it is a blessing in misfortune."

"what is that?" "The accident did not happen on the sea near the land. If it happened near the land, and it was near an industrial city, then a large amount of leaked oil would flow there, and if it caused a fire and explosion, it would be a disastrous event. Even if it does not burn, the oil Pollution of the seas of coastal countries will also become a major international problem." "I heard that some of the burned oil was part of it, and the rest of the oil sank to the bottom of the sea with the ship." "That's right. I think the amount of oil that sank with the 'Daiichi Japan' is about 300,000 to 400,000 kiloliters. It would be terrible if all the oil flowed out."

"Will there be no problems with the oil that sinks to the bottom of the sea? Will the pressure of the water damage the oil tank and cause the oil to leak out?" "No. The water depth in this area is 1000-2000 meters. Each oil tank is made of 38mm steel plate, and the oil filled is just in balance with the water pressure. Therefore, no matter how high the water pressure is, I believe it will There will be no tank ruptures and oil spills." "The oil tanker sank in the sea about 1,000 kilometers south of India. Is the route a little southerly? Don't ordinary oil tankers sail on routes close to land?" "This is because the 'First Japan' is a huge 500,000-ton oil tanker. The Strait of Malacca, known as the 'Oil Tanker Ginza', has a water depth of 223 meters, and the largest tanker that can pass is 25 10,000-ton oil tanker. When the "First Japan" went, it could pass through the Strait of Malacca due to the shallow draft of the empty ship, but when it returned with a full load of oil, it had to pass through the Lombok Strait east of Bali. This route is about more It took two and a half days, but this is also irreversible for giant oil tankers. You can see it clearly by looking at the map, and the route of the Lombok Strait is much southerly than that of ordinary oil tankers." "In the future, will you return to tankers?" The reporter finally asked. "My expertise can only be on board, so, as long as the company orders, I still have to go back to the ship. But, now I want to rest quietly for a while." Until the end of the conversation, Captain Miyamoto's facial expression was always serious and never relaxed. The reporters also asked questions to the remaining 5 people.Of course, the answer is the same. The content of the press conference was published in the next day's newspaper, along with live photos of the oil burning at the sinking site of the "First Japan". The photos of the burning of the "First Japan" were taken by the crew of the "Fifth Shirakawa".As they approached the port of Colombo, the photographs became hotly contested among newspapers in their local bureaus. It's almost like the Indian Ocean is burning. Even at a distance of 1,000 meters, due to the intense radiant heat, the skin felt as if it had been roasted by fire.In fact, some crew members suffered minor burns. The conversation between Captain Suzuki and the fishing captain of the "Fifth Shirakawa" was also published in the newspaper. In addition, the 6 remaining survivors of the "First Japan" were welcomed by various TV stations.The cover of the weekly magazine is also their photo. These six people became heroes in a sense, or at least popular people everywhere. However, a certain gloom has always haunted the 6 people. One of the reasons is because the remaining 26 seafarers are still missing; When the high price of oil became the recognized cause of global inflation, 580,000 kiloliters of oil was lost. No matter what you say, it can't make people feel relaxed. The head office of New Japan Airlines also considered from the perspective of these six people and decided to give each of them two weeks of paid leave. Two days later on December 12th. The American insurance company stated that it would pay 16 billion yen in insurance money for the "First Japan" of the New Nippon Air Lines head office. However, the whereabouts of the 26 sailors are still unknown, and there is no report of rescue from any country or ship. Only on this day, on a small island in the Indian Ocean, a small thing happened. In the Chagos Islands of the British territory, there is a Salomon Island. On December 12, at around 6:00 a.m. local time, a man drifted to the island. The Chagos Archipelago is scattered about 1,200 kilometers south of India and about 500 kilometers from the equator in the southern Indian Ocean. The last piece of paradise. On the east coast of Salomon Islands, it was a Malay child who first spotted the drifting man.The child immediately told the parents, and the child's parents immediately reported to the Englishman Peter Cochrane. Pete Cochrane, 42, is as fat as a beer keg.He is the grocer, the postmaster, the bank president of the island, that is to say, he is the master of the island. When Cochran rushed to the coast with a big belly, the man was still lying prone on the broken coral sand, exhausted. The man was wearing a shirt and trousers, with bare feet, holding a life buoy tightly with both hands.The lifebuoy is not in English, but in Japanese characters. Cochrane doesn't know what it is written on. Cochran carried the unconscious man to his home. This is a man in his twenties and twenties, with a slender face, who looks both Malay and Chinese. His face was tanned by the sun, but his fingers and toes were white and swollen, as if he had been soaked in sea water for a long time. The only doctor on the island was called.After examination, no abnormalities were found in any part of the person's body, but he was extremely tired, and he would be fine after a good rest. Cochrane checked the items on the man's body: the waterproof watch on his left wrist was still moving, but the time was an hour later than here, probably due to the time difference, and the watch was engraved with "MADE IN JAPAN "The words. He also retrieved the wet crew manual and wallet from the back pocket of his trousers.The crew manual is issued by the Japanese government. Under the name written in Chinese characters, it says "JUNICHI AKAMATSU" in Roman characters.There is $1950 in the wallet. Cochrane thinks the picture is mostly clear.This man was a Japanese sailor, maybe his boat sank, maybe he fell overboard from the boat and drifted here. About 30 minutes later, the man opened his eyes and looked around. "How about it?" Cochran leaned forward, looked at him and asked.The Japanese said "thank you" in English with a hoarse voice. Cochrane took out the wine for him to drink. The Japanese choked while drinking, but finally recovered a little spirit after drinking. Cochran hurriedly asked him about the situation of drifting here, but the Japanese shook his head slightly with a embarrassed expression.Cochrane thought he either didn't understand the English I was speaking or didn't want to explain the situation. Unfortunately, no one on the island knows Japanese.Cochran had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​knowing the situation and stop asking.But the Japanese kept yelling "Hui, Japan, Hui, Japan" in unruly English.Cochrane understood that he was going back to Japan. "OK, alright." Cochrane smiled and patted the Japanese shoulder on the bed with his big hand.He decided to offer humanitarian help to the man and send him back to Japan. However, Cochrane is a government employee, so the next day, he let the Japanese crew take a regular cargo ship to Mumbai, and he went with him in order to confirm the authenticity of the man's crew manual. As a result, The Japanese consulate in Mumbai confirmed that it was a crew manual issued by the Japanese government. "Well, now you are completely free!" In front of the Japanese consulate, Cochrane spoke to the Japanese and shook hands with him. "Thank you!" said the Japanese. Two days later on December 15th. At Haneda Airport in Japan, a young man steps down from a Pan American World Airways plane arriving via Mumbai, India. The sun-tanned man wearing sunglasses showed the crew manual at the immigration office.The prosecutor saw the name "Junichi Akamatsu" written on it.Crew booklets serve the same purpose as passports. "I came back from India to deliver the cargo ship made by the Sun Shipyard to the Indian government." The man smiled, showing his healthy white teeth. The inspectors knew that this was a common job. Japanese sailors often sent ships built in Japan to the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries, and then flew back home. However, if the censor had read the newspaper carefully and hadn't missed anything, he would have been surprised to see the name "Junichi Akamatsu". However, fortunately or unfortunately, the inspector was not such a person. After confirming that the crew manual was indeed issued by the Japanese government, he handed it back to the seaman. "Bringings?" asked the customs inspector. "I didn't bring anything." "What...?" "Oh, there is this." The man pulled a key ring with a baby elephant out of his pocket and showed it to the inspector. "I only bought this key ring in India. Because I often go to India and other countries by boat, I don't want to buy any souvenirs." The man smiled again showing his white teeth. The inspector said "OK", and the man turned up the collar of his black coat and disappeared into the winter streets shrouded in twilight. There is no news about the man's situation.However, the lifebuoy that the man was holding still hangs in the room of Peter Cochrane on Salomon Island who rescued the man. In his diary that day, Cochrane wrote: Captain Miyamoto, the survivor of the "First Japan", lives in Shibuya, Tokyo.Before, his home was in the suburbs.Since the only daughter got married, there were only husband and wife left in the family, so I sold the house in the suburbs and bought a three-bedroom house in Shibuya.Moreover, since Miyamoto spends most of his time on the ship, it is more at ease for his wife to live alone in the apartment building. His wife Asako is 6 years younger than Miyamoto and is 48 years old this year.The two were introduced to get married by others. In the 23 years since their marriage, the husband and wife have been relatively harmonious.Although the wife is short in stature, she is flexible and capable. When Asako married Miyamoto, she was prepared for her husband's career as a seaman to be a certain degree of danger. In fact, she has experienced all kinds of anxiety and fear for her husband's life and death many times so far.That time, when my husband, as a first-class seaman, went to the United States on a 15,000-ton cargo ship, he encountered a storm in the North Pacific Ocean. The ship was wrecked and died, but he was rescued and survived. "My life is hard!" The husband once said with a smile. This time, my husband was rescued again, but after returning to China this time, his mental state was a little different. He didn't drink much of his favorite wine, and spent most of his time thinking blankly. When chatting with him during meals, he also tended to ignore him. In the past, when returning from overseas, he always had strong demands on Asako's body like a young man, but this time it was not like that. However, Asako didn't want to ask Miyamoto why, because she could imagine it even if she didn't ask. First, as the captain, he was rescued, but the 26 subordinates were still missing.The thought of self-blame must be tormenting the husband.Although the survival of these 26 people has not been determined yet, there is still no news of rescue so far, so the possibility of their survival is already very small. The second is the matter of 580,000 kiloliters of oil.Although the head office of New Japan Airlines received the insurance money for the "First Japan", the actual loss was zero, but the East Asia Petroleum Company, which leased the "First Japan" to transport oil, lost hundreds of millions of yen.My husband must also feel guilty about this. Asako also knew that her husband wrote a letter of resignation and put it in the drawer of the desk. The long-term married life made Asako understand that it is best not to disturb him at this time, and even at the dinner table, try not to touch this aspect of the topic.Slowly, after accepting the company's order and going to sea again, he will naturally forget about these things. In this way, a week passed in silence until December 18th. This day is not a special day for Miyamoto and his wife.It has not rained in Tokyo for four consecutive days, and it is still sunny but cold today. "Today, Mt. Fuji can be seen very clearly!" Asako was talking to her husband while laying breakfast on the dining table. "Oh." The husband simply dealt with it without taking his eyes off the newspaper. "Call Sawako over tonight." "Oh." I still like to ignore it. The dinner that day was also in the same state.After putting down the chopsticks in his hand, Miyamoto suddenly asked: "what is the date today?" "Number 18." Asako replied.Miyamoto stared at the ceiling. "Has it been a week since I came back from Haneda!" "Yes." "One week..." Miyamoto muttered while looking directly at Asako. "Actually, I have something to tell you." "whats the matter?" "No matter what I tell you, I hope you will not be afraid." "I'm not afraid, just tell me." Asako had a deliberate smile on her face.But Miyamoto thought about it, said "Forget it, let's talk" and stood up. "I'm going for a walk and I'll talk to you when I get back." Taking a walk after dinner is Miyamoto's habit. He said it is good for his health, so he does not stop in winter.My usual route every time is to come out of the apartment on Udagawa Street, walk up the horizontal ramp in front of the NHK Broadcasting Building, and then go home through the Olympic Swimming Pool.Even after the accident, the habit did not change. "It's cold outside, be careful not to catch a cold." Just as Asako said something, Miyamoto rushed to say, "The sea is colder at night," he said, stretching his arms into the sleeves of his kimono and going out for a walk.