Clipper Ship Crew Tells of ‘Hell’ at Sea

Eight survivors of the sunken schooner Pride of Baltimore flew home to a bittersweet welcome on Wednesday, as hundreds of people cheered their return and at the same time shed tears for four crew members still missing.

After arriving in two private jets, the eight gaily dressed crew members waved to the crowd, accepted bouquets and then spent about 10 minutes privately with loved ones before a news conference, their first since being rescued Monday.

Before the crew spoke, Baltimore Mayor William D. Schaefer said: “We mourn our loss; we’ll never forget. But, oh, how happy we are that you came home.”

The Coast Guard said Wednesday that it had resumed searching at dawn for Armin Elsaesser III, the Pride’s captain, and Vinney Lazaro, a crew member, who were last seen alive.

Sometimes fighting back tears, other times finding solace in humor, the survivors described four hellish days and seven hours during which they were adrift in a five-foot life raft with the barest of supplies and diminishing hopes for rescue.

A “wall of water and wind” had capsized the vessel on May 14 about 280 miles north of Puerto Rico, John Flanagan, first mate and spokesman for the group, said. Of the ordeal that ensued, he said: “The days were barely tolerable; the nights were hell. That’s an understatement.’

The Pride, a sleek 136-foot reproduction of a 19th-Century Baltimore clipper ship, was built about 10 years ago as the city’s good-will ambassador to the world. It was headed home from a European cruise when it encountered heavy seas on the night of the 13th, Flanagan said.

“Sea conditions gradually increased,” he said, until, by 11:30 on the morning of the 14th, safety harnesses were needed to strike sails. The Pride was sailing at eight knots in a 35-knot wind.

Line of Squalls

The crew noticed a line of squalls but saw none they considered unduly threatening.

“Soon after, we were hit by a wall of water and wind, with wind speeds of 70 knots and above,” he said.

The crew fought mightily to stabilize the craft, but, “in what appeared to be a slow motion, the boat started laying over,” Flanagan said.

And, in less than 60 seconds, it was on its side. “It seemed like we were all waiting for her to right herself,” he said. But she never did. In another minute, the Pride had sunk. The crew had no time to send out distress signals.

One inflatable life raft became tangled in rigging and burst. Eight people gathered around another raft, which inflated, then deflated. They saw Elsaesser swimming 80 feet away. “We tried to yell and get his attention, but he soon went out of sight in the squall,” Flanagan said. They never saw him again.

Two other crew members--Nina Schack, 23, of Baltimore and Barry Duckworth, age unknown, of Georgetown, Del.--drowned and were seen floating face down nearby.

The eight survivors finally managed to inflate the raft. They had managed to hold on to two flashlights, three flares, one emergency food packet, seven small cans of water, one first-aid kit, a five-gallon water container and a bucket.

During their ordeal, they ate twice a day. “Lunch was at 10 hundred hours and dinner was at 18 hundred hours.” At each meal, each survivor got one bite of biscuit and one sip of water.

The eight, jammed into the small raft, helped one another as best they could; all suffered sunburn and sores from exposure.

After several ships had passed them by, they finally were able to signal with a flashlight to a Norwegian tanker at 1 a.m. Monday.

The survivors were identified as Flanagan, 27, of Niantic, Conn.; Joe McGeady, 26, of Severna Park, Md.; Leslie McNish, 30, of Somis, Calif.; Robert Foster, 23, of Alexandria, Va.; James Chesney, 25, of Newmarket, N.H.; Dan Krachuck, 22, of Springfield, Pa.; Susan Huesman, 23, of Baltimore, and Scott Jeffrey of North Linthicum, Md.