Storm on Board the Ship "Río Asón" (1976)

Many years ago, while I was the captain of the ship “Río Asón”, we had a trip to Saint Pierre. This port is on the island of the same name and is an archipelago located in North America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, off the Canadian coast of Newfoundland. Since 1985, it has been a French territorial collectivity with a special status. I made this trip during Christmas in 1976.

We were in Livorno, Italy, and the chartering office in London informed me that once the unloading operations were completed, we should head to Saint Pierre. As I mentioned, we were in winter and without heating. In Livorno, although it is cold, it is quite bearable, but in Saint Pierre, the situation changes considerably. I contacted the office in Las Palmas to authorize the purchase of some heaters, which was approved.

From Livorno to the Strait of Gibraltar, I was studying the most convenient route to avoid encountering all the storms head-on. The shortest route is the orthodromic route, navigation by great circle, but it is not the most convenient because it would take us further north, and we would encounter all of them given the time of year. It would reduce our speed, and we risked damaging the ship, considering we were in ballast. Therefore, I decided, along with the first and second officers, that upon exiting the Strait, we would head towards the Azores, passing south of these islands and then changing course to approach Saint Pierre.

The truth is that we had a good trip from Livorno until 24 hours before arrival. I called the agency via the coastal radio of Saint Pierre to inform them of my ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). They replied that I would not arrive at the time I had given because winds of over 120 kilometers/hour were forecasted.

The sea was calm, and a light breeze was blowing. It didn't take long for the wind to shift rapidly, and within a few hours, we were in the middle of a storm of sea and wind. The solution was to ride out the storm by taking it on one of the beams and, above all, to moderate the speed to the minimum that would allow for manual control of the ship.

Being in ballast accentuated everything, the rolling and pitching. But the storm passed after a few hours, and we arrived at port without incident. Once the regulatory procedures were completed, we began loading squid in boxes destined for Huelva.

The temperature was -11º C. The heaters worked wonderfully, but we kept a close eye on them because they could cause overload and potentially start a fire. The outlet they were connected to overheated, and the entire crew was warned of the risk, and everyone cooperated.

The stay lasted several days, and despite the cold, it had its charm with the anecdotes that occurred, and everything went well. Upon departure, I was given a weather report. There was a storm to the north and south. I decided to head SE to pass between the low pressures. At first, there was a strong swell with intervals of rough seas, but the weather improved, and we arrived in Huelva as planned and without incident.

(*) Captain of the Merchant Navy

Photo: Archive of Antonio Guillén Rodríguez