On Friday, November 9, we boarded the Ibrahim Dede with eighteen crew berthed at APM Terminal in Port Elizabeth — a visit that will forever be indelibly imprinted in our minds and souls.
The Second Officer greeted us in the ship’s office and then brought us to the mess room where we gathered around a table to talk. As the Second Officer began to tell his story, it quickly became clear that the crew desperately needed our visit. Eight hours out from New York Harbor on Thursday evening, a low front suddenly smacked the ship without much warning. As the barometer started to drop rapidly, the officers realized they needed to get to the bridge quickly. The seasoned Captain had spent twenty-five years at sea, and as the barometer continued to drop, he realized this was not going to be just any storm. This had the makings of one of those “perfect storms.”
The storm hit with a vengeance. Within five minutes huge waves swept the vessel—walls of water that eventually built to thirty feet. They crashed tirelessly as the fierce winds intensified, gusting to one hundred knots. The vessel began to pitch and roll erratically, listing heavily to port, then to starboard. It took all of the crew’s efforts to stay the course and to keep the ship upright.
