Trigger warning: Please consider before continuing to read. Descriptions and photos contained in this article may trigger an adverse emotional response in some readers. If any of this causes stress or anxiety please seek professional help.
The following is a recollection of events from my memory of the SIEV 36 incident and is in my words and no one else. My point of view may differ slightly from others but I believe this to be as accurate as I can remember.
Out of no where
When the tow line had been slipped from HMAS Albany and they headed off, SIEV 36 was directed to start its engine and get underway slowly. We began our wait for the supporting warship with the intention to loiter around in the area until it arrived. SIEV 36 was only doing a couple of knots of speed but started to turn, which then had the sun rising on the other side of the boat. Apparently there was some confusion on board and the PII’s started thinking they were about to be sent back to where they came from; they then became restless and uneasy.
We received a radio call from the boarding team saying the engine had stopped and they were investigating. Shortly a radio report came back saying it appeared the engine had possibly been sabotaged. I got up from the helm and told the Buffer (Chief Seamanship Sailor) I was going to grab another crew member to prepare a tow line down aft in case we needed it. I started to head down the stairs from the bridge when the XO (Executive Officer) made a broadcast with the code word calling a High threat to the boarding team.
I headed to the boat deck to ready the RHIB to be launched while our remaining boarding members raced to the armoury and geared up. When they were ready we launched from the starboard side of HMAS Childers and I brought the RHIB around the stern and headed up the starboard side of SIEV 36 to insert the extra boarding members.
When the last boarding member stepped off onto SIEV 36 I backed the RHIB away. The XO radioed though and directed me to the port aft side of the SIEV; apparently a PII had threatened to jump into the water. I brought the RHIB around the other side with the intention of getting close, but not too close, we didn’t want to give anyone an opportunity to jump and try to swim to us. I brought the RHIB around the stern and stopped on the port aft side of SIEV 36 about fifteen to twenty metres away.
Explosion
I called out to my bowman and conveyed to him what the XO had said and told him to prepare to recover someone from the water if they jumped. In the initial rush to launch the RHIB I hadn’t attached the engine kill switch lanyard to my leg so I proceeded to bend down and fix it up. As I was doing it I heard a noise, I quickly brought my head up to see SIEV 36 explode into pieces with flames in all directions. Because I was behind the console of the RHIB I never felt the blast from the explosion but I certainly heard it, and then all the screams and yelling that followed.
I looked around in disbelief as there was now debris and people in the water everywhere. I had just started to grab the throttle when my bowman yelled, “GET US IN THERE”. I brought the boat up in speed and then stopped near one of the TSE members in the water. My bowman was calling out to her and telling her to swim to the boat. I dropped the levers back to neutral and left the console to run up the side of the inflatable collar and help.
The TSE member’s jacket had not inflated and she was struggling to keep her head above water, by the time I got next to the bowman he was reaching out to her, we managed to grab her but two male PII’s were holding onto her and dragging her back down. I placed my knees on the collar of the RHIB and tried to help lift her but we couldn’t. I stood up and kicked my foot towards the closest PII, yelling, “Get the fuck off her, fuck off”.
I leant back down and this time we managed to drag her into the RHIB. I spun around and another female boarding party member was swimming to the RHIB, she seemed to be moving fine but I helped her into the RHIB anyway. While I was doing that I noticed another two boarding members, two males, who were about five metres away but struggling to swim. Luckily they had managed to inflate their life jackets. The first one was calling for me to help him but I yelled back that I couldn’t reach him and he needed try and swim. With the way they looked and struggling to swim my heart sank, I thought they were seriously injured; it scared the shit out of me, I had no idea what sort of condition they were going to be in when we actually got them in the boat.
I thought I was about to lose them but the first one made it to the side of the boat and I noticed his forearms were badly burnt. As he attempted to climb up I tried to pull him in but he was too heavy, water logged and had no strength. He asked me to help him but I said, “I can’t lift you mate, you need to try”. He looked up at me and replied, “I can’t”. I managed to help him move down the side of the boat and around the back where we got him to climb up over the stern jet drive.
I then went for the second member who was hanging onto the side of the boat by this time. When I got to him he looked at me and said, “They blew us up…they blew us up”. I got him to move down the side and up over the back as well. Other members made it to the RHIB by this stage and were getting into the RHIB. One of the TSE members who made it had suffered a broken ankle from falling into the SIEV when it exploded.
I was helping one of the boarding members up over the stern and heard someone calling out to me. I looked up and saw one of our members still standing on the burning SIEV. When he realised he had my attention he yelled, “Get me off this fucking thing”. I was surprised to see anyone still on board but he had been lucky enough to be protected from the initial blast where he was standing. There were a couple of PII’s still on board as well but they ended up either jumping or being pushed into the water.
I made sure everyone near-by was in then spun the RHIB around to get him. As I made my approach I noticed a body floating in the water with another PII swimming past it. I nudged the bow of the RHIB up to the SIEV and our boarding member stepped on. For the next few weeks he was known as Captain Jack, in reference to the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, when Jack Sparrow steps off his sinking boat onto the wharf.
We did a quick head count to make sure all our personnel were safe. In our RHIB we rescued seven out of the nine boarding/ TSE members. I had spotted one of our boarding members earlier in the water while I was assisting someone else into the RHIB, he had been calling out for me to help him, I yelled out for him to swim to the RHIB but he had PIIs near him so he started swimming away from them. The second RHIB had been deployed and picked him and another member up, as well as PII’s.
With the head count correct it was then a quick assessment of injuries as we raced to the stern of HMAS Childers. I radioed in and told them I was inbound with injured. The injured ones left the boat while a couple of others remained to continue the rescue.
After the initial high threat had been called HMAS Albany had turned back to us at full speed. They also deployed both their RHIBs to assist. HMAS Childers had deployed a 24 man life raft, life rings and smoke markers. It was a very surreal experience with everything that was going on at once. It felt like a scene out of an action movie.
I backed the RHIB away from HMAS Childers and we continued to search for survivors. I had no idea of the circumstances behind the boat explosion, all I knew was our team had just been attacked and we could be in for more trouble. We continued to rescue more PIIs out of the water when I noticed two fast moving boats coming at us from over the horizon. A Customs vessel had been in the area as well and deployed their RHIBs to assist.
We eventually couldn’t find anyone else in the water so things had sort of became quiet for a little bit, well for me anyway. I stopped the RHIB to drift because there was nothing for us to do and we couldn’t get recovered back to HMAS Childers.
One of the girls in the RHIB noticed she had blood on her trouser leg so we cut open her trousers and discovered she had a shard of glass in her leg. As her trousers were being ripped open she said, “This is the only time any of you will get to rip open my clothes”. Even in all that chaos it was good to see someone could inject some humour.
I took the RHIB back to the stern of HMAS Childers and off loaded everyone. There was still no way for us to be recovered back on board because the quarter deck had been turned into an emergency department. The Buffer jumped into the RHIB with me and we sat out on the water slowly searching the debris while we waited further instructions. We began recovering bags and back packs until we decided it was probably not such a good idea because we didn’t exactly know what caused the explosion and we didn’t know what we might find.
At one point we were ordered to get as close as possible to the burning SIEV 36 and check for bodies. I moved the RHIB closer but it was well and truly on fire now and the heat was too intense so we backed away.
We then received another order to proceed to HMAS Albany to be recovered and transport a critical patient back to HMAS Childers. While on there I got a quick break and that’s when I started to notice how fatigued I was. My stomach started to ache from lack of food and I felt my body becoming tired and shaking from the adrenaline rush wearing off. I had now been operating on only two hours sleep and had not eaten properly since dinner the night before. While on board HMAS Albany I was offered a can of soft drink which I accepted, after I opened it I was told it would cost me a dollar. I just glared at the person. They looked at the scene around them and said, “Yeah don’t worry about it”.
When the patient was finally ready for transport we loaded him into the boat, he was an older man and had sustained severe burns to most of his face and arms. While waiting for other equipment and supplies to take with us I sat with him and dabbed water from a rag on to his lips to keep them damp because he wasn’t allowed to drink anything. We launched from HMAS Albany and made our way back so we could get the patient to the RAAF Doctor.
Once back on board we got the patient out and secured the RHIB.
There’s a job to do
The quarter deck was a mess, casualties everywhere and our crew doing everything they possibly could. It was amazing to think only a short time earlier I was helping pull some of these crew members out of the water after they were blown up, and here they were working tirelessly to save lives.
Even though some of us might have had our differences, none of that mattered now; it was insignificant in comparison to what was in front of every one at that point.
I dropped my gear in the armoury and made my way up the passage to our dining area. A few of the boarding members were in there getting medical treatment. One had his leg up and was in a lot of pain; the girl with the glass had a bandage on with her leg up and the guy with burnt arms was sitting up getting treatment.
When I walked in the door and saw his face I started to feel overwhelmed with relief. When I had seen him in the water earlier I seriously thought he was in a bad way, it was good to see him sitting up safe and well. I looked at him and said, “I thought you were gone mate”, at that point I had tears in my eyes. Two of them grabbed me and sat me down between them and gave me a hug.
I got up a short time later, went down stairs to the cabin and sat on the floor to get myself together. I grabbed some lollies and tried to eat them but I really didn’t feel like eating anything.
We had a light hearted moment later when one of the guys was given a Penthrane whistle; some of the things coming out of his mouth when that kicked in were hilarious. He also attempted to sing, not very well, which had us all laughing.
Sailing The Unknown 