Kees Pronk in his home port of Scheveningen.
> ADVENTURE AT SEA
A procession at sea
Kees Pronk (76) went to sea when he was 14. In 1991, he was the captain of a Smit Internationale ocean-going tug. He was assigned to tow three decommissioned US merchant ships from San Francisco to Thailand. A two-month towing trip, full of obstacles and unexpected events. Kees was in charge of the operation from on board the ocean-going tug Smit London. The plan was to leave San Francisco with just one of the three ships. A local towing company would then bring the other two to join the Smit London, 50 miles out to sea. ‘During preparatory discussions, the uncongenial owner of that company started bragging about the fortune he would make from the contract.’ So Kees came up with a different plan: leave with two of the American ships, anchor in San Francisco Bay, attach the third ship there and set off for Thailand. ‘It would have been simpler for me to leave with just a single vessel in tow and have the other two brought to meet me out at sea. But I wasn’t going to let that arrogant so-and-so pressure me into doing it his way.’
Typhoon When preparing for the trip, Kees had decided not to take the route north of the Philippines, but instead – because of the North Pacific hurricane season – to take the southern route across the Sulu Sea. ‘That route is just north of the equator, where there are hardly ever any typhoons.’ That turned out to be the right decision, because a couple of powerful typhoons were active in the North-West Pacific, to the north of their route. All the same, after 11 days under way, Kees had to change course near Hawaii to avoid hurricane Fefa. ‘We came in for a whole lot of rain, wind, sea, and swell as Fefa passed astern of us.’
‘To everyone's surprise, the bunker tank turned out to be empty. We then found the fuel in the stern of the ship’
Empty A bunkering operation was scheduled for just before they entered the Sulu Sea via the Surigao Strait. One of the three American ships was carrying a supply of fuel that had to be pumped over to the Smit London. ‘To everyone's surprise, the bunker tank turned out to be empty. We then found the fuel in the stern of the ship. We discovered that the shut-off valve on the forward bunker tank was no longer sealing properly. But the Smit London's clever second engineer managed to pump the viscous fuel oil back into the forward tank, from where we could pump it across to the Smit London.’
Seized up The return of the pumping team from the American ship to the Smit London, around midnight, didn't go smoothly either: after just 100 metres, the workboat's engine seized up. ‘The workboat couldn’t go forward or back, and it was also right in the path of the approaching tow. Miraculously, the team managed to grab the rope ladder that was hanging down over the side and hold on to it. In the meantime, the crew back on board the Smit London prepared the second workboat so as to retrieve the defective one and the pumping team. It was 2 o’clock in the morning before the two workboats and all those involved were back on board. The operation had been planned to take six hours, but it had taken over twenty.’
Bartering out at sea After the lonely week-long passage across the Pacific, the Sulu Sea was bustling with colourful local fishing boats. ‘The fishermen were amazed to see our unusual little flotilla. Their curiosity led to some of them coming closer. There was a lot of waving and shouting between them and our own Filipino crew. Our Filipino boatswain hailed a fishing boat and arranged to barter two cartons of cigarettes and a bottle of whisky for a basket of fresh fish. We ate delicious fresh fish that day.’
At anchor South of Vietnam, the Smit New York took over one of the three American vessels from the Smit London. It had been sold on and now needed to be towed to India. The Smit London continued on to Thailand with the two remaining American vessels. On 18 September the three arrived off the coast of Thap Sakae. ‘There was no harbour, no authorities we could report to, and no tugs to assist us.’ Kees managed to anchor both the American ships and then sailed on to Singapore with the Smit London. ‘When I got there I was discharged and I flew back home.‘ ←
The American ships astern of the Smit London during the bunkering operation.
BOOK
Kees Pronk has written a book about his adventures as the captain of a tug: Bergen Slepen op Zee. You can order it from Kees at voorloper@ outlook.com.